The Venture of Four
by Esthar47
Summary: Caught in an odd twist of fate, Naruto is thrown into sortie of epic proportions, changing his life forever. Thus making Naruto different than fate intended. Watch as he and many others experience a new reality. Please Read and Review.
1. The Prologue

**Prologue **

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned Naruto, mostly because I don't. (der!) **

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Sunshine illuminated the village of Konaha as residents of the village began finishing their daily duties. Near the Academy for Ninja in Training, a small apartment complex stood. In one of its small rooms was a little seven year old boy named Naruto who was practicing his signs.

"Um, Tiger, Snake, Monkey, and…uh Platypus? Poopie, I don't know them. This learning stuff is too hard. Maybe if I go take a walk I can do this better," said Naruto before putting his book on his futon and walking out the door.

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In a secluded area of Konaha, two ninja dressed in ANBU uniforms entered a grey and black building. Inside, other ninja clothed in attire similar to the two entering were doing their daily business, whether it be finalizing missions or receiving them. The two who had just arrived walked into an office away from the commotion. Inside of the office, a ninja dressed in robes with an ANBU insignia on it greeted the two entering.

"How did the mission to the Land of The Bears go, Kakashi and Itachi?" questioned the leader of the ANBU Black Ops.

"It went without a hitch Soen, sir," replied Kakashi, head bowed in the presence of his superior.

"We've the report right here, sir. All of the needed information has been recorded," said Itachi before placing a report on Soen's desk.

"You are dismissed, Kakashi and Itachi. Take today and tomorrow off, you deserve it.

With that said the non-verbal Kakashi and Itachi parted ways and went two respective ways. Itachi rubbed his temples as a previous migraine of his began to come back on.

"Damn it, just when I thought it went away," mumbled Itachi before turning another corner leading to the Uchiha Compound, his home.

Over time, Itachi had somewhat grown away from his family and friends, becoming darker and edgier as he killed more and more in the ANBU corps. When he neared the lake in front of the Uchiha Complex, he saw two friends of his that he had associated with since his days in the academy, Shisui Uchiha and Hana Inuzuka. They both attempted in greet Itachi but all they got was a snarl when he walked right past them.

"Ya' know, Hana, I think Itachi's really changed," said Shisui. "I don't think it's for the best, though."

"I know what you mean Shisui," began Hana while circling her finger in the lake water, "But there's always the chance he'll change."

Itachi slowly walked into the grounds of his ancestors and approached his home. An aura that said back off or I'll kill you emitted from Itachi, scaring off the little Uchiha children running around mindlessly and even urged some others to retreat to their own homes. This all ceased once he entered his home. Inside, he was immediately greeted by his little brother Sasuke, whom he thought of ass very persistent and annoying.

"Itachi, will you teach me something new today, or maybe we could go practice throwing shuriken.." went on Sasuke for minutes while fixating his attention on Itachi, who, frankly, paid no heed.

"Bug off," bluntly stated Itachi before leaving a sad Sasuke sitting on the floor of their home.

He retreated to his room and locked the door, wanting to have privacy. Quickly, in routine form, Itachi stabbed his katana into his floor where similar markings were and tossed his vest against a wall before sitting on his floor rubbing his temples once again. Soon, he passed out on the floor and went into a deep trance.

"I see that you want power, Itachi. I have that, though, there is only one way to obtain it."

"Huh, what, where am I and who the hell are you?" yelled Itachi while turning around in circles, surrounded by a shady aura of darkness.

"You'll find out in time, Uchiha Itachi," cackled the mysterious voice before becoming dead silent.

Itachi stood alone in the darkness before feeling a sharp pain hit his body. Right away, he opened his eyes and found himself lying against the cold floor in his room. Immediately, he noticed the luminescent glow of the moon's rays shining through his window.

"How long was I out?" wondered Itachi before standing up and looking around.

"I'd say about three hours," spoke a cold voice which froze Itachi in place.

"W-who's in here?" asked Itachi while sliding over to his katana.

"Why, I thought you could recognize your own voice. Kukuku," chuckled the voice.

Moments later, an exact replica of Itachi walked out of the shadows of his room and stared coldly at his counterpart. He stared menacingly as if he had some crazy idea on his mind.

"You did this Itachi; I'm some kind of product of the fusion of a hibernating sense of rage and the unlimited possibilities of the sharingan. For the creation of I, I salute you," thanked the evil Itachi before actually saluting and disappearing in a whirlwind of leaves.

"Wait, no, he took my katana. Who knows what plans he has in store. I have to stop that crazy son of a bitch before something horrible goes down."

With that said, Itachi leapt out of his window to confront this problem. Little did he know, his little brother, Sasuke, had watched the whole thing through a crack in the door.

"I have to help big brother. I just gotta do something to help," told the young Uchiha to himself before grabbing his wooden kendo sword and slipping out of the house quietly.

Itachi has lost track of himself and frankly, it pissed him off a lot. On the other side of the entire compound, evil Itachi neared the Sacred Lake of The Uchihas to find his best friend, Uchiha Shisui so he could murder him. He approached his target slowly with a firm grip on the hilt of his katana blade.

"Hey Itachi! It's kind of odd seeing you out here at this time of night. Usually you're somewhere else working on a mission on something like that," yelled Shisui over to Itachi while laying on the pier gazing at the night sky above.

"Ah, it's good to see you too, Shisui," replied the malign Itachi, a fake grin plastered all over his face.

Meanwhile, the other Itachi finally neared the lake and spotted who he was looking for inches from his best friend. He then realized what was being sought, the Mangekyo Sharingan. On the pier, the other Itachi kneeled right next to Shisui and began to whisper.

"Hey, Shisui, have you ever wondered what kind of experience death was?" asked the malign Itachi, grasping his katana even harder.

"Nope, Itachi, and I don't think I ever want to wonder what that's like for a very long time."

"Shisui…you might want to rethink that," calmly said the evil Itachi before unsheathing the katana at a blinding speed and stabbing it right through Shisui's heart.

"I-itachi, w-w-why..." were all the words Shisui let out before closing his eyes.

The good Itachi witnessed the death of his best friend and felt an odd surge of fury go through his body. He then rushed towards his polar opposite.

"You son of a bitch, you will pay for what you did. Dragon, ram, ox, tiger, Fire Release: Supreme Fireball no jutsu! Die!" screamed Itachi before launching a huge ball of fire.

The ball of flame hit right in front of evil Itachi and a huge explosion occurred. The smoke cleared quickly to reveal a decimated patch of land and what remained of the lake. Itachi looked around, wanting to know if he dispatched his enemy. Suddenly, the prey became the predator as evil Itachi appeared behind his good half and began to monologue.

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"Yummy Ramen, thank you mister," shouted Naruto before putting out some Ryo and walking away.

"That Naruto, he has a serious addiction to my ramen," said the Ichiraku Ramen owner, Teuchi to himself while watching the short six year old scurry away into a random part of town.

Naruto was rubbing his hands together to try to heat himself up while walking back to his little apartment room on the other side of town. He constantly looked at the large moon above him, wondering if a man really lived up there like he heard some kids saying. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks once he witnessed a huge explosion of fire go down not too far away.

"Wow, fire! That'll make me…um…not cold!" proclaimed a now ecstatic Naruto before suddenly taking off at full speed towards the area.

He leaped a fence that blocked him from his target and saw two people that looked the same in every way. Naruto believed they knew where he could find a potty and some kind of heat source, so, he casually walked over to them.

"And that Itachi is the complete back story behind your madness and my current goal to wipe out this clan from existence," stated the evil Itachi.

"I feel oddly enlightened…"

The malignant Itachi then paused as he felt a poke on his left ankle, "Huh? What? Who's touching me?"

"That'd be me. My name's Naruto Uzumaki, the next great Hokage! But, let's get down to business; I want to know where I can find a potty and some kind of hot thing to make me feel better."

"Stupid runt, I'll just kill you now," began Itachi's demented side before holding his blade to Naruto's neck.

Albeit, Naruto pushed the blade away and put on an annoyed expression before wising off right back at the vicious murderer in front of him.

"Okay, cut the doody, mister. I'm getting pretty cold and I want to go home. Please just help me out here."

Just as Itachi number two was about to behead Naruto, he felt another hit to his body but on his other leg. When he turned around, his grip on Itachi one loosened, allowing him to break away and fight once again.

"It seems it was Sasuke trying to beat me with a kendo stick. Not a bright decision, but what do I care. He's just another midget to kill along with you," reckoned Itachi the bad, "I'll just end this right now. Mangekyo Sharingan."

Suddenly, an odd red flash enveloped his eyes until it stopped, revealing a kaleidoscope design in both with three tomoe in three separate sections of a circle, replacing his pupils.

"With my new powers, I will destroy you."

'Shit, we're stuck. I think I've got two options, actually. There's, stand my ground and die or use s the back up jutsu ANBU taught us for escape purposes only. I guess that fits the bill then.'

"What's wrong Itachi? Feel intimidated?"

"Nope, just formulating a plan to get away from here and I may just have it!" shouted Itachi while ushering Naruto and Sasuke to stand in a close radius to him.

"Shame on you Itachi…kukuku," began evil Itachi. "Just taking off and leaving your fellow clan members to die."

"I want my mommy!" cried out Sasuke while getting seriously scared at the situation.

"Well, I want my ramen!" pouted Naruto while looking around.

The good Itachi began to ponder whether or not to use his Plan B jutsu, or whether to stay and try to fight. He stood in place until he heard a raspy voice call out to him.

"Itachi, p-please, go. I n-now see you didn't mean for this to happen. I'm sure the clan c-can stop h-him," slowly let out a surprisingly still alive Shisui before coughing up piles of blood and finally dying.

"Goodbye Shisui, goodbye Uchiha Clan. I will always remember you. Ninja Art: Final Circumvention no jutsu!"

In desperation, Itachi pulled off the technique, transporting he, Sasuke, and Naruto to a faraway location. Evil Itachi watched as his twin being disappeared in a flash of light. He just smirked and walked over to Shisui and kicked him off of the pier. Shisui's body floated to the bottom of the lake, a trail of blood following him as he descended into an impending darkness.

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Itachi awoke only to have grains of sand fly into his eyes. He brushed it out and looked around to find Sasuke balled up on the ground, a pile of sand forming on him and Naruto building a sand castle a few feet away.

"Naruto? Is that you?"

"Yep, Itachi, it's me. Oh and don't worry, I don't have to use a potty anymore. You and that other guys neglecting of my needs led me here, a vast land of life for me to pee on," said Naruto while putting a stick in his sand castle.

"Um, okay, you seem to have been awake for a while. Have you seen some type of gate, entrance, or any sign of human life around here?

"Nope, cant say I have, but I do think we should get our butts up and move," uttered Naruto before finishing his sand castle.

"Why do we need to move so quickly? Sasuke isn't even awake yet."

"Well, I'd say the big sand thing over there is a good enough reason," said Naruto while pointing west.

Itachi widened his eyes and called Naruto over and told him to duck and cover. He then did just that and embraced for impact.

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Sasuke opened his eyes after being out of it for quite a while, only to find himself in a hospital bed. Nervously, he looked around and soon found Naruto, who was fast asleep. Suddenly, a voice spoke up next to him.

"Hey Sasuke, I see you're finally awake. You've been out for quite a while," spoke Itachi, who was sitting in a chair near Sasuke's bed.

"Where are we? Where are mommy and daddy? Where's my t-"

"Oh, sweet, sweet, ramen, you make my heart go wild," blurted out Naruto while dreaming, interrupting Sasuke's rant.

"Listen, Sasuke, we're a long way from home. Speaking of home….it's gone, forever."

Sasuke and Itachi talked for a while until Naruto woke up from his deep slumber. This prompted Itachi to get a nurse to clear them out, because they all had minor to no injuries. Moments later, they were all outside of a hospital in Sunagakure with no idea where to go. Itachi, with a looming Sasuke, looked around the whole village while Naruto ran around in circles, practicing catch phrases.

"Hm, disown it! No, that doesn't sound good. Erm, show me the ryo! Dang it, that is not right either. How about, By the Power of Greyskull! Wait, what the heck was that? I guess I'll just settle with Believe It!"

"Naruto, quiet down, please. Just sit down or something," said Itachi.

Naruto did as he was told and sat on the ground next to a gloomy looking kid with red hair holding a teddy bear.

"Sweet teddy bear," complimented Naruto while attempting to talk to the boy.

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**A/N: Done! **


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: To Suna **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Only Masashi Kishimoto does. **

"So what's your name, mine's Uzumaki Naruto?"

"My name is Sabaku no Gaara."

"Can I just call you Gaara? Oh, and will you be my newest friend?"

"I guess you can call me Gaara and what is a friend?

"Well, a friend is someone who will go out of their way to make sure that their other friends are happy," responded Naruto.

"Okay, then I except your offer for friendship," said a slightly happy Gaara.

Right when they finished their talk Itachi and Sasuke came up to Gaara and Naruto. They told Naruto it was time to go and they walked off, but what they did not know was that Gaara was following them. He was tired of the villagers trying to beat and hurt him.

"Hey Naruto do you think I could travel with you guys to wherever you are going. I'm tired of being ignored, feared, and beaten by these villagers," said Gaara.

"Sure just let me ask Itachi. Hey Itachi can Gaara travel with us?"

"I don't see why not, besides we need a third member for our group."

The group set off to the nearest Ninja Store to buy new clothes and weapons with Itachi's most recent payments from his S Rank missions in ANBU. He bought three katanas, a new one for himself and two others for Naruto and Sasuke, 1000 kunai, 1000 shuriken, 50 smoke bombs, 300 explosive tags, and new sets of clothes for his group ninja. While he was doing this Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara were having some fun of their own. Gaara saw his sister Temari and his brother Kankuro so he went to them to tell them of his leave. Naruto was following Gaara until his attention span gave out and he walked away.

Naruto crept into the back of the Ninja Store and found a bunch of technique scrolls.

"I'm gonna take these scrolls. It's not like they're doing anything sitting around like this," stated Naruto.

So he took the scrolls but just before he left Naruto spotted a big dusty scroll that he attached to his back. Meanwhile, Sasuke was meditating outside when some crooks were taking off with some bags of full of something that looked like Ryo.

"_They don't look friendly maybe I should go teach them a lesson about stealing. _Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique," said Sasuke.

The attack caught the thieves off guard and blasted them away. Sasuke was rewarded the Ryo as a gift for beating the thieves.

"Well I guess that's all I need to buy for the trip that I have planned for Naruto, Sasuke, Gaara, and myself. Now I'm going to have to find them," said Itachi.

Suddenly Sasuke and Gaara walk up to Itachi. Sasuke showed Itachi his reward and Gaara stated that his siblings would tell his father of his trip. But Naruto was nowhere in sight.

"Hey Sasuke, Gaara where is Naruto?"

"I haven't seen him since he ran off when I was going to see my sister and brother.

"HEY GUYS LOOK OVER HERE," shouted Naruto.

"N-Naruto where did you get the scrolls you have in your pack?" asked Itachi.

"I found them," replied Naruto.

"That's a good enough answer for me, Naruto," said Itachi.

Itachi took the scrolls and through them in the bag with the ninja gear making it weigh about 600 pounds but that is easy to carry for Itachi, the ANBU, to carry. Right before they left, Itachi, Sasuke, Naruto, and Gaara went to the Ramen Emporium to eat. After hearing where they were going Naruto started jumping for joy. After eating they made their way outside the gates and they headed off. Soon, when they made their way through the desert Itachi pointed out some mountains that they would train in. Itachi handed out the two katanas to Sasuke and Naruto. He also gave new sets of clothes to each of them; one size fits all black ninja suits. Then he dumped all of the technique scrolls on the ground and pulled the big one off Naruto's back.

"Before we begin I need to see what your preferred types of jutsu are. So take this card and push some of your chakra into it," said Itachi.

Sasuke ended up being Lightning, Naruto had a wind affinity, and Gaara's was engulfed in Sand.

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"Do you understand that I want you to kill Gaara, Yashamaru, said the Kazekage, also known as Gaara's dad.

"Yes Lord Kazekage I understand."

Yashamaru made his way around town but never found Gaara. He told the Kazekage that Gaara was gone.

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"We accept you into the Akatsuki, Uchiha Itachi."

"Thank you Leader," said the evil Itachi.

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**End of Chapter 1**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Training, Training, and More Training **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. **

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Two Years Later

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Naruto, Sasuke, Itachi, and Gaara had moved from land to land training non stop with the scrolls Naruto "helped." Itachi had taught Naruto and Sasuke everything that kids their age could handle in Kenjutsu. He also taught Naruto and Sasuke basic jutsu and a few elemental jutsu. Gaara was a different story. Itachi figured out his sand manipulation and its source, the one tailed demon Shukaku. He bought a sand gourd for Gaara to make it easier to supply himself with sand. Using different movements he taught Gaara ways to use the sand to form things and use certain elements to his advantage. Image wise the black ninja suits still fit. Sasuke was turning into the fan girl obsessed kid we all know and somewhat loathe. Gaara grew taller and besides that is the same. Naruto, compared to the others, hadn't changed at all.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Gaara, I have to check out something so you three just take a break or train."

"Where are you going brother?" asked Sasuke.

"That is something for me to know and for you to never find out," answered Itachi.

Little did Sasuke know, Itachi was going to ancient ruins that used to be the home of the Uchiha ancestors. He took the large scroll Naruto found in the Ninja Store with him.

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Itachi was inside a cave with marking all over its inside. After infusing chakra into the scroll it opened. Inside it had a title that read Ninja S- Rank Techniques. He put his hand on one of the techniques and its information could be read. This particular technique read Mangekyo Sharingan Transformation. Itachi had studied the signs for this ever since he opened the scroll months ago and now was the time to perform them. Suddenly his eyes began to glow blue and they turned to their Sharingan stage. The blue chakra erupted and the designs around Itachi's pupil changed to the ones of the Mangekyo Sharingan.

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Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara went back to camp and as night fell Naruto and Sasuke fell asleep. Gaara stood and watched over the camp because of his fear of the thing inside him biting away at his personality. Once Naruto fell asleep he found himself standing in a sewer.

"Where am I?" asked Naruto.

"**You are in the domain of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. You are the vessel that I live in and since I don't want to die, I will communicate with you supplying information on how to NOT DIE." **

"Okay, thanks for giving me the heads up Mr. Fox."

"**That's Kyuubi to you meat bag," spat Kyuubi. **

After his talk he awoke to see Itachi lying on the ground, next to the big scroll, with bandages wrapped around his eyes. Gaara and Sasuke were sitting next to him watching for any movement from his body. Gaara explained that he found him lying on the ground some ways down the mountain. Hours later Itachi started to get up and then he explained that something happened to him that caused his eyes to stop working for a little bit.

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Three Years Later

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After Itachi regained his eyesight, training had picked up quite a bit and he had gone through every ninja scroll they had except the big one. His Kenjutsu lessons picked up and he introduced new fighting styles and elemental manipulation with it. On their training journey Itachi left to get something in a village so Gaara, Sasuke, and Naruto went into a small town near them and bought some new clothes. Gaara still wears his black ninja suit but he has an iron chest plate on it. He also wears a long red and white coat that has a kanji on the back that reads love, just like the one on his forehead. His hair now reaches right above his shoulder blades. Sasuke got rid of his black suit and replaced it with tight blue and white clothes covered with a grey jacket that goes to his knees. His hair is like it always has been. Naruto replaced his black ninja suit with a tight, orange t- shirt and black pants.

**End of Chapter 2**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Lightning Strikes and Disguises **

**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto **

"Damn it, now we have to stand and wait for Itachi to find us," spat Naruto.

"Quiet down Naruto, it's not really that bad," said Gaara quietly.

Naruto argued with Gaara for the next few hours only to be interrupted by Itachi running up to them from behind yelling something about headbands. He arrived and gave a ninja headband to Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara.

"Remember our little mission in Kumokagure when we had to escort the Raikage's eldest daughter, Celestia, through the Valley of Lightning Strikes?"

"Yes," Gaara, Sasuke, and Naruto said in unison.

_Flashback _

"_Alright, all we have to do is keep the Raikage's eldest daughter safe in her carriage for a few minutes while we trek across the Valley of Lightning Strikes," informed Itachi. _

"_Why do they call it the Valley of Lightni-?" _

_Then a lightning bolt came down and made contact with Naruto right before he could finish his sentence. Naruto, rather than getting hurt, became energized and ran the carriage all the way to the end of the valley. _

_End of Flashback _

"Hey that's not funny. I had spaz attacks for two weeks," murmured Naruto.

"Anyway, remember when he said that he would repay us in any way we wanted?"

"I believe I remember him saying something like that," replied Gaara.

"Well, since the Chunin Exams are coming up I asked him if he could instate you three as cloud ninja. Now we must make our way to Konahagakure for them."

They journeyed for three days all the way to Konaha. Right before they were in a radius where someone could see them, Itachi told Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara that they each needed to use a genjutsu that will change their appearance because the village isn't expecting them to show up. Naruto turned into a tall person with short, green hair and red shades with a silver ninja suit. Gaara's genjutsu cast him as a short person with black hair with a red shirt and black pants. Sasuke was medium sized person with dark brown hair with some blue and grey robes. Itachi just put on a mask that covered his hair and changed his clothes. To make things seem less suspicious, Itachi told them to address him as sensei. The gate watchers let them in after identifying them as a four man cell for the Chunin Exams. Itachi told them to go explore the village while he did some paperwork for the exam. Just before he disappeared, Itachi tossed Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara their fake IDs. Naruto walked away from the group just in enough time to see a discouraged, pink- haired, girl sitting on a bridge.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked Naruto as he sat next to the girl on the bridge.

"No, my teammates think I'm useless in every way possible," answered the girl.

"That can't be true; you seem like a very strong and wise person. By the way what is your name?"

"Well, my name is Sakura and the strong and wise part is kind of true. I am one of the smartest in my age group, but all I'm pretty weak ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu wise. So what is your name?"

"My name is Rengu Zaki. How about we train together for the few weeks until the Chunin Exams?" asked Naruto.

"That sounds like a great idea! Lets start tomorrow," said Sakura in a happy tone.

They got up and walked the streets of Konaha discussing a training regimen for the days to come. After talking for a while, Naruto and Sakura saw some kids getting bullied by some sand ninjas. One of them held a kid by his shirt collar while the other two watched in amusement. Naruto unsheathed his katana and walked over to the sand ninja.

"Put him down or I'll chop the thing on your back into pieces," spat Naruto.

"Yeah right like I'll believe that, said the sand ninja.

The sand ninja decided to put the kid down and talk to the other person instead. He revealed himself to be Kankoro and the two other sand ninja were Temari, his sister and Waki. They parted ways and just as Naruto walked away, Gaara and Sasuke appeared and they came up beside him and Sakura. Naruto told Sakura, Sasuke and Gaara's made up names. Sakura decided to go so she waved goodbye and left.

"So, did Naruto get a girlfriend," teased Sasuke.

"No you jackass, we're just going to be training partners before the Chunin Exams come," said Naruto angrily.

"Itachi bought us a room at a hotel near the east outer wall. We should be going now," stated Gaara.

They made it to the hotel and checked in. Each of them fell asleep in their beds moments on entry.

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Two Weeks Later

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"We need your team name please," said the guard outside.

"We are team 0, sir," answered Gaara.

Right after getting the okay to go in the academy from the guards outside, Gaara, Sasuke, and Naruto walked down the halls of the ninja academy so they could get to the first exam room. A road block of people filled the corner of the hallway trying to get in a room.

"The sign has a genjutsu that has it say 301, but it is 201 so lets move on," stated Gaara bluntly.

The three of them went to the actual examination room and sat in the three seats assigned to them. The examiner walked in the room and told the examinees that his name is Ibiki Morino. Each proctor handed out a test to each person and Ibiki spoke up.

"Alright you damn maggots there will be no talking in here. That is unless you want to defy me. You all have a test in front of you. This measure's a ninja's intellect and ability to think of ways to get you and your comrades out of certain situations. For each question you miss, your teams points suffer also. With that said lets begin the Chunin Exams first stage."

Sasuke used his Sharingan to copy answers. Gaara used his third eye of sand to see another person's answers. Naruto just sat there staring at his test with a blank stare thinking that his only hope is the tenth question. In just forty minutes, the Chunin proctors eliminated quite a few teams. Five minutes later Ibiki stood up and walked to the center of the room.

"Now it is time for the tenth question. This is a risky question because if you miss it you will never be able to take the exams ever again. All who want out can get the HELL OUT OF MY ROOM."

"Ummmmm, we quit."

"Us too."

"We don't want to go on anymore."

"We don't handle these situations very well."

"Get the wimps out of the room right now before I get very angry. Now that they're out of this room let's get this tenth question out of the way. All of the people left in here pass."

"What the hell did you just say?" asked Naruto with a confused expression on his face.

Right before Ibiki had the chance to respond, a blur crashed through the window and many shards of glass flew all over the classroom.

"Ah, hello Anko, just a bit early don't you think," Ibiki said.

"Twenty- three teams th-."

"MY EYE, THERE'S GLASS IN MY EYE. I CANT GO ON said a random sand gennin.

"I mean twenty- two teams that will make their way to the second exam," Anko said in a partially creeped out voice.   
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End of Chapter 3

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	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: The Horror That is Anko **

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

"Alright maggots report to Training Ground 44 for the second exam." With that said Anko jumped out of the window she broke and ran off.

The genins walked out in their teams and they all set off for Training Ground 44. Upon arrival, the genin teams found Anko downing six dango at once. She got up while spinning a kunai on her finger, but the kunai slipped and hit the mask of a rain genin. The mask blew up, consuming the rain genin in flames thus disqualifying his team.

"Oops, that wasn't supposed to happen. Anyway, this stage of your exam is the Forest of Death. Before you begin, go sign the release forms so we aren't in charge of your deaths if they happen. When you receive your forms, a scroll will come with it. Your job is to collect the two different types of scrolls I have in my hands. Get them and go to the tower in the center of the forest. Oh, and don't open the scrolls on your way to the tower. It would mean immediate disqualification. You have five days to complete your test. Go to your gates and listen for the command. Alright, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!"

Each team started through the gate, starting to devise the team's plan.

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Seven Hours Later

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Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara found and beat up a sand genin team. They stole the team's scroll and we're lucky enough to discover it's the scroll they needed. On their way to the tower, a grass ninja attacked them.

"Who are you?" asked Sasuke.

"Me, I'm just testing your abilities to see if you are worthy of my attention. Now let's begin."

The grass ninja summoned a large snake and watched as Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara attacked. Naruto drew his katana and charged the snake. His sword pierced the snake slightly leaving a small hole in the skin. The giant snake countered by launching Naruto by hitting him with its tail.

"_I hope Naruto can get back fast. We need his help. Well, until he gets back me and Gaara will fight," thought Sasuke. _

"Are you going to fight me or stand there, Uchiha Sasuke?" asked the grass ninja in a sadistic tone.

"How do you know who I am?" asked Sasuke.

"I know who you all are, Sasuke. Nothing can be hidden from me, Orochimaru."

"Sasuke, he is one of the legendary sannin. We cannot beat someone with that power," stated Gaara.

"BUT WE SURE AS HELL CAN TRY." Everyone turned around to see Naruto standing on a branch above them. "We can't give up."

"Naruto is right, now isn't he time to give up. Fire Release: Flame Sword," yelled Sasuke.

Sasuke's katana blade had flames all around it and he jumped up towards Orochimaru. Orochimaru grabbed him with his tongue and started to squeeze him harder and harder. Gaara used his sand to create a spear and launched it at Orochimaru's throat.

Orochimaru moved Sasuke at the spear, but right before it hit he kawarmied out. The spear missed and destroyed a nearby tree. Naruto then used Wind Release: Air Shot and he managed to damage the snake slightly. Sasuke activated his Sharingan, which he awakened a while back. While Sasuke was keeping Orochimaru busy, Naruto and Gaara were preparing their own attacks. Gaara seeped some sand through the hole Naruto left earlier in the snake. Then he used Fire Release: Super Heated Flames on the sand.

The snake instantly turned to glass because of the sand inside of it being superheated. Naruto followed up with a quick slice of his katana and the snake exploded into shards of glass. Orochimaru fell on the ground and quickly leapt up. He elongated his neck and bit Sasuke in the shoulder. He passed out on the ground next to Naruto and Gaara. Orochimaru told Naruto and Gaara that Sasuke would betray them and come to him seeking power. Shortly after that Orochimaru snapped his fingers and the ground around Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara exploded, sending them in different directions. As they flew away, their henge's wore off.

Orochimaru looked at the damage he caused and smiled. "My work here is done. The plan is working perfectly. Soon Konaha will fall and I will have a new host body, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA."

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Sakura and her team had secured both of the scrolls needed and they were enjoying a small break as night began to come. A flying object could be seen in the distance and before they knew it a body launched into the ground. After a few minutes a dazed Naruto stood up.

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Sasuke had regained consciousness after a few seconds and he landed swiftly on the ground in front of Temari, Kankoro, and Waki.

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Gaara's sand saved him from sustaining any damage from the blow, but the blast launched him quite a distance. He sealed his sand back up in his gourd and landed on the ground right in front of Team 8.

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"Damn it, my head hurts like hell. Oh, hey Sakura and Sakura's teammates," mumbled Naruto.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" asked Sakura.

"Um, Sakura it's me Rengu Zaki."

Sakura quickly examined him and replied. "You look nothing like Rengu. He has green hair and you have blonde hair."

Naruto quickly examined himself and ran off mentally cursing himself for being so stupid and revealing who he really is. Do to using so much chakra in the fight with Orochimaru, Naruto collapsed onto his knees unable to move. Then a loud voice spoke up in his head.

"**It seems you need my help right now, kit." **

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself in a sewer. "Nice home you have here Kyuubi."

"**It's not like I chose to live in this sewer inside of a cage. Anyway, I see that you have passed out there. I've decided to give you some training. Seeing you out there makes me realize that I won't be alive much longer." **

"Hey, that's not funny. I try as hard as anybody else does."

"**That may be true but if you think about it, you don't have a trump card. Sasuke has the Sharingan. Gaara has his sand manipulation abilities. You may have me, but you are unable to utilize my powers until you are of age. Although, there might be times when I have no choice to take over, let's hope that doesn't happen. There is no guessing what changes may happen to you if that happens. Let's get to the point, for the next few days I'll be teaching you a completely new technique." **

"ALRIGHT, THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME."

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It had been five minutes and Sasuke was still being stared at by Temari, Kankoro, and Waki. Sasuke looked at himself to realize that his genjutsu had been released, but he didn't have anything to worry about because the people in front of him were from Suna.

"You will not have our scroll, but we want your scroll," said Temari.

"_Curse you Gaara, why didn't you carry the scrolls with you." _

Right as Sasuke was ready to fight for his team's scroll, a weird fiery feeling hit his shoulder and he passed out. Temari looked in Sasuke's carrying sack and found two scrolls. She took the one her team needed and they sped off, leaving Sasuke lying on the ground.

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Gaara handled his encounter pretty well, unlike Naruto and Sasuke. He quickly noticed his genjutsu wore off and told Team 8 that he meant no harm. Right after saying that, he left.

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Later That Night

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"See, I told you searching for dead and sleeping people in the middle of the night would help us get scrolls," whispered a waterfall genin.

"Um, Evolg, I don't know if we should," replied the other waterfall genin.

"Geez, Bob, you are such a wuss," said a third waterfall genin.

"Shut the hell up, Zigfried," said Bob.

The three waterfall genin walked over to a body on the ground. Zigfried reached into the person's sack he collapsed onto the ground, kunai through his throat. Bob and Evolg looked all around and saw that the body previously lying on the ground was gone. Evolg thought that it would be smarter if he ran, so he did. A figure then walked out of the darkness and ran up to Bob shouting, Lightning Release: Thunder Link. Right as a small line of thunder reached Bob, a shield of sand appeared in front of Bob. Gaara jumped into the scene and told Bob to leave. Bob left and Gaara used his sand to grasp the figure by the neck only to reveal him to be Sasuke with black flames all over him.

The pressure from Gaara's sand to Sasuke's neck caused the flames to slowly disappear. Then the flames disappeared completely and Gaara released Sasuke.

"What is going on with you, Sasuke?"

"I-I think it is the mark left by that Orochimaru guy. It started to act up and I lost control of my body."

"Alright, hopefully that won't act up for the rest of the exam. Let's take our scrolls and find Naruto."

"About that, a group of ninja stole one from us," said Sasuke while rubbing the back of his head.

Gaara examined the pouch of the ninja Sasuke killed. "Here's one, is this one the one that is needed?" asked Gaara.

"Yeah it is. We sure are lucky."

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Meanwhile with Itachi

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Itachi had been walking around Konaha for most of the day remembering all of the things left behind. Then he walked into a random store and as he entered, a small memory came back to him. He had a girlfriend before he left. After pondering for a few minutes, he remembered her name.

"Hana, that's what her name is," thought Itachi aloud.

"Huh, did someone say my name."

Suddenly a woman who was Itachi's age came out of the back of the store. She had dark brown hair, tight black pants, and a white undershirt covered with a Chunin vest.

"Sir, can I do anything for you? I didn't really expect anyone to come in at this time at night with issues concerning their pets," stated Hana questioningly.

"Um, I was just looking at all of the stores around Konaha," answered Itachi.

At that point, Itachi forgot all about hiding his identity from the public and took his mask off. The moment after Itachi dropped his mask, Hana recognized him. When she saw him she immediately remembered how they were best friends along with Uchiha Shisui and how they became boyfriend and girlfriend. The weird thing was that the Uchiha Clan had been murdered years ago.

"But how a-are you alive, Itachi?"

"There were two survivors, me and my brother."

"I really missed you Itachi. It was boring without you and Shisui," said Hana.

Hana turned the store sign to closed and took Itachi into the back room. The rest is history.

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Three Days Later

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Sasuke and Gaara had been looking for Naruto until they found him sleeping on the ground next to a tree. Naruto said he had been looking for them but they found him. The three of them re henged and left for the tower in the middle of the forest. Once inside the tower, they opened both scrolls. A Chunin ninja that Naruto and Sasuke new as Iruka popped out and congratulated them on moving on.

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End of chapter 4

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**A/N: There, my longest chapter. Alright, here are the pairings Naruto/Sakura (duh) **

**Sasuke/Temari (it will take some time) Gaara/Hinata (will take time to develop) Itachi/Hana (kind of obvious) **


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Lord of The Cough**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**.

Seven teams managed to pass the second exam and they were all lined up in their respective teams. Each of the Jonin team leaders stood in front of the line. Then the proctor walked into the room.

"Hello, my name (cough) (cough) (cough) is Hayate (cough) Gekko (cough) and I am your proctor (cough) as of now. Unfortunately, we have too many teams here so the Hokage has issued you to take (cough) preliminaries for your exam."

While everyone was shouting in disgust, Sasuke continued to grasp his shoulder because of his mark. Gaara asked if he needed any help but Sasuke refused. Hayate then asked if anyone wanted to quit. Surprisingly, Kabuto raised his hand and left the building. Right after that, Waki also raised his hand, to the great dismay of Temari and Kankoro. Then the Hokage walked in through a door on the other side of the building. He asked for everyone on Team 0, including their sensei to report to his office. Once inside the office, the Hokage ushered Itachi to take off his mask. Sasuke, Naruto, and Gaara were in shock when he complied.

"Hello Itachi, I presume these are the three you have had with you on your journey," pronounced Sarutobi.

"Yes Sarutobi, they are my brother, Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Sabaku no Gaara."

"Huh, brother why are you telling him this?" asked Sasuke.

"Recently I have done something that revealed my identity which led to me spilling everything to the Hokage," answered Itachi.

"What exactly did you do Itachi?" asked Naruto.

At that moment, Inuzuka Hana walked into the room with her three canine companions and she spoke up. "We made eye contact for the first time in years and we did something foolish and now I'm pregnant with our child."

"Yeah, once her mother found out she sent her dog after me. Right before it tore my head off, Hana stood up for me. Her mother and I reached an agreement and now Hana and I are to be married," said Itachi while scratching the back of his head.

Once Sasuke heard the news of the revival of his clan he started to jump for joy. "YES OUR CLAN IS ON THE RISE! Oh, sorry for the sudden outburst."

"But there is one last thing that must be cleared up. Who killed your entire clan?" asked Sarutobi.

"The reason for my clans near extinction is my second side. All of the evil in me separated from my body and created a whole other being," answered Itachi quietly.

"Do not worry about it Itachi, we do not convict you doing anything against the law. It technically wasn't your fault," stated Sarutobi with a smile on his face.

"Thank you Hokage."

"You can drop your henges and put your leaf headbands back on. As for you Gaara, I give you a choice, return to sand or begin a new life in Konaha," said Sarutobi.

Gaara decided to start anew with Konaha. Right after that, Team 0 and the Hokage went back to the preliminary building. Each team began to get annoyed at how long Team 0 was taking. Then, suddenly, the Hokage and some people walked through the door.

"This may come as a shock to you but this is Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Itachi, Uzumaki Naruto, and Sabaku no Gaara. Sasuke and Itachi survived the massacre with Naruto. Gaara met them early on and left with them. They are still Team 0 and will compete in the exam. With that said, let's begin the preliminaries," said Sarutobi.

"He's right (cough) let's watch the screen and see who goes first. It says Sasuke vs. Choji. The battle begins now.

**Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akimichi Choji **

Choji activated his rolling ball technique and launched himself toward Sasuke. Sasuke quickly dodged and watched as Choji hit the wall. While Choji was in a daze from hitting the wall, Sasuke used one of his techniques, Lightning Release: Five Way Thunder Strike. Choji was struck four times by a consecutive lightning strike. Choji stood up after the blow and followed up with an attack of his own, Body Expansion. His enlarged fists connected with Sasuke several times and crushed him into the wall. As Sasuke began to sink into the wall he yelled fifth strike and the fifth thunder strike hit Choji in the head. Normally it would kill someone but it just scrambled Chouji's brains a bit. Sasuke fell to the ground and spit out some blood from his mouth.

"I declare Uchiha Sasuke the winner of this match," declared Hayate without coughing once.

With that said Sasuke jumped up to his teammates and sat down against the wall.

Then everyone's eyes fixed themselves upon the screen. Two new names then popped up on the board.

**Rock Lee vs. Temari **

Temari leaped over the railing and watched as Lee quickly flipped onto the ground. Lee stated multiple things about the power of youth and took off towards Temari. Right before his jabs and kicks could land, Temari used her fan to blow him back.

"You can't beat me with your stupid Taijutsu. Why don't you try using something else," said Temari.

"I would, but I can't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. I wasn't a gifted prodigy like many of you here. All that I can do is Taijutsu. Even though that's all I can do, it doesn't mean that I am an awful Shinobi. Guy sensei taught me that."

Moments after he said those words, Lee jumped up onto the railing and leaped up to the ceiling. He jumped down while screaming Leaf Whirlwind. Temari was swept off the ground and Lee attempted to launch a flurry of punches and kicks. She countered by blowing him back with her fan.

"LEE, TAKE THEM OFF. YOU NEED ALL THE HELP YOU CAN GET."

"BUT GUY SENSEI, YOU SAID NOT TO UNLESS I WAS FIGHTING FOR MY LOVED ONES."

"I'M MAKING AN EXCEPTION THIS TIME, LEE."

"OKAY GUY SENSEI."

Lee removed his leg warmers to reveal weights. Temari laughed at the thought of some leg weights being enough to beat her. He dropped the weights on the ground and they went straight through it creating hole in the ground. Everyone including Temari gasped at the sight. Seconds later, Lee disappeared. The room was silent as Temari walked near the hole that Lee's weights left. Suddenly the ground began to rumble. In defense, Temari put out her fan. Lee launched up through the hole he left and kicked through Temari's fan and brought her up in the air with him.

"Now it's time for my secret technique, FORWARD LOTUS," screamed Lee.

"This is it, FORWARD LOTUS CONCLUSION."

Lee jumped away as Temari was launched into the ground. Five minutes after Lee was announced the winner, Gaara began to panic since it was his sister down there so he threw Sasuke into the hole and he told him to get his sister. Sasuke felt something soft beneath him and when he opened his eyes he saw that he was on top of Temari.

"You sick pervert, what the hell do you think you're doing?" asked Temari.

"It wasn't me; Gaara threw me in he-."

"Sure, blame it all on him. Don't you dare do that again or I'll tear you apart but I appreciate the gesture," spoke Temari with a small grin.

Gaara watched as Sasuke climbed out of the large crater carrying Temari on his back. "She's okay, I knew you could do it Sasuke," proclaimed Gaara as he took hold of Temari and walked her over to the Medic Nins.

"Geez, talk about protective younger brothers," chuckled Naruto as he watched Gaara make sure that the medics knew what they were doing.

"I agree," stated Sasuke.

"So, Kai, Roak, what do you think of the last few fights?" asked Sakura.

What's it to you weakling?" answered Roak in a spiteful tone.

"Never mind. **Cha, when they see the results of my training with Rengu, I mean Naruto, they will be surprised. **

"Without further (cough) ado (cough) let's see who the next fighters will be," coughed Hayate as he pointed to the screen.

**Aburame Shino vs. Yemma Kai **

Right as Kai began to open his big mouth to talk about how easy the battle will be, Shino sent many bugs into Kai's mouth. The insects blocked his lungs from releasing air and Kai passed out. Then the insects flew out of his nose.

"Humph, I win this match, loser," said Shino quietly.

"He is right (cough) I declare Shino the winner!" exclaimed Hayate.

The medic went over to Hayate and gave a status report. "The kid that just lost, has damaged vocal chords. Some of the insects that the other kid released are inside of the chords and are manipulating his voice."

"That isn't our responsibility so just take him and (cough) (cough) heal all of the wounds you can." He ushered the medic away and turned his head to the Genin that were anxiously awaiting their turn. "Turn to the screen for the next battle."

**Inuzuka Kiba vs. Tenten **

The battle didn't last very long. Akamaru, Kiba's dog, bit Tenten's weapon summoning scrolls. That caused Tenten's weapons to impale themselves in her. Luckily she wasn't in a serious condition but it was still really bad. Hayate announced Kiba the winner and ushered for the medics to take her away.

"_Hm, Hana will be ecstatic when she hears that her brother won", _thought Itachi as he observed the previous fight.

"Woo hoo, we won Akamaru," shouted Kiba.

"Shut the hell up Kiba," shouted Naruto back at Kiba.

"Okay, okay, shut up you two. Go back to the (cough) balcony. Unfortunately, some weapons were lodged into the video screen so I must read the names from a card."

Then a carrier ninja walked in and handed him a card. He read the card and revealed the next battle.

**Uzumaki Naruto vs. Abumi Zaku **

Naruto readied himself in a fighting stance as Zaku charged at him. Zaku launched several air waves from the vents in his palms. Naruto quickly followed up with his Wind Release: Air Barrier attack that spun the waves back at him. The waves may have been going fast but Zaku just reinforced them with his Supersonic Slicing Sound Wave jutsu. When the enormous sound wave began to screech its way to the side of the arena that Naruto was in, craters began to form all over the field. The entire time, Naruto sat meditating on the ground. He quickly stood up and threw two small, red blasts at the wave of sound. It exploded, causing the entire ground floor to take major damage, as well as causing the walls to crack and some rooms to implode. Surprisingly, the blast wasn't able to reach anyone on the balcony. Once the smoke cleared, Zaku could be seen lying face first, in the rubble that is the arena floor. On the other side of the arena, Naruto stood against the wall next to Zaku breathing heavily, brushing off dust from his ninja suit.

"It seems Naruto is the winner in this match," declared Hayate.

Right as Naruto reached his team on the balcony Itachi pulled him aside. "What was that attack you pulled off out there?" asked Itachi.

"It's a new set of techniques that I learned from Kyuubi," confessed Naruto.

"What is the technique?"

"Well Itachi, it is a blast made of spirit energy that comes from Kyuubi. I use the blasts depending on how much spirit energy I can utilize at the moment. Using to much can cause me to tap into the force that keeps me alive. Doing that can kill me."

Naruto walked next to Gaara but Itachi continued to ponder about Naruto's power source, The Kyuubi. He learned that Naruto possessed it a few years ago on a mission in which he saw the seals on his stomach and the red chakra that consumed him when he fought a warlord. Then Hayate announced the next match.

**Yamanaka Ino vs. Sabaku no Gaara **

Ino started the match by throwing a few shuriken at Gaara, but they were deflected off the sand wall that Gaara summoned. Gaara followed up by laying down a pile of sand on the ground and using Water Release: Liquid Layout. In the time that Gaara was using his combo, Ino decided to use Poison Style: Wolfsbane Takeout. Gaara's sand turned to mud and he commanded it to attack Ino. The poison combined with the mud and hit Ino. She was strapped against the wall by the poisoned mud.

"I declare Gaara the winner (cough) of the match," said Hayate as he ushered the medics towards Ino.

Right as Gaara returned to the balcony, Naruto congratulated him on his win. After that match, all of the others seemed to pass by quickly. Shikamaru defeated Hinata with his shadow possession jutsu. Sakura broke Kin's arm and kicked her into the wall and used an earth jutsu that made her a statue except for the fact that she could breathe. All because she said that Sakura has a big forehead, but Kin still did a good amount of damage to Sakura with her bells.

Naruto volunteered to take her to the hospital but his offer was denied. The next match pitted Kankoro against Dosu. In the end, Kankoro won by a hair. Neji fought against Misumi. He quickly used his Byakugan and immobilized Misumi, thus defeating him. The final match of the preliminaries concluded with a match between Yoroi and Roak. Roak used his family's secret technique and teleported around Yoroi. Yoroi kept using his chakra sapping attacks but continued to miss and lose chakra of his own. One of them made contact at Roak's heart. They both collapsed and the medics carried them away. Hayate declared it a draw and told the remaining genin to report to the ground floor. The 3rd Hokage walked into the room and gasped at the amount of damage the genin did to the best training building in the village.

"This was the best training building in the entire village," said the Hokage with a frown on his face, "That doesn't mean that I'm not impressed, though. I congratulate all of you who have passed the preliminaries. As you have been told, there is going to be a third and final exam. It will take place in one month. Just like your preliminary exams, it will be a small tournament that will take place to determine whether or not you can be a Chunin class ninja. To determine who you fight against, you will draw a number from this box. Your numbers will range from 1- 10. If you and someone else have numbers next to each other like one and two, will fight.

Everyone except for Sakura, who was still hurt, drew their numbers. Since Sakura wasn't present, Naruto drew his paper last and took the one that was still there so he could take it to her. He ran off before the Sarutobi could clearly state that Sakura's his opponent.

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End of Chapter 5

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**A/N: Another chapter has come and gone. Please continue to review my story and send any suggestions you want. **


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: The Finalists **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto **

Naruto weaved through everyone standing in the halls of the hospital and stopped at the room the receptionist told him to go to. He opened the door to find two adults, most likely her parents, sitting next to her and talking.

"Oh, hi, am I interrupting anything?" asked Naruto.

"No, Sakura's mother and I were just talking to Sakura about her match," answered Sakura's father, "What business is it to you?"

"I-I was just coming over here to deliver her a slip of paper concerning who she will fight in the finals of the exam," replied Naruto.

Sakura then looked to the side of her father to see Naruto. "Hi Naruto," she said.

"You know my daughter," spoke Sakura's mom.

Before Naruto could answer the question, Sakura's dad spoke up. "Wait a minute; you said your name is Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Yes sir that's my name."

"Will you step outside with me?" questioned Sakura's father.

"Um, sure."

Once they were outside, Sakura's father started to talk again. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING AROUND MY DAUGHTER, YOU FOX BRAT?"

"You have no authority to call me that."

"YEAH AND WHY IS THAT?"

"Because there are people who don't see me as something dangerous, like a demon, but as a good friend. Just like your daughter. I may hold the burden of carrying this stupid fox, but that doesn't mean I am him. All the fox does is talk a lot."

"**I resent those last few comments," snorted Kyuubi. **

"You've got guts to tell me off kid. I guess I was kind of wrong about you. From here on out, the Haruno family gives you some respect, but I still don't know if I can fully trust you. You can be around my daughter as long as you don't do anything to her. If that happens, I will kill you."

"Understood, sir," answered Naruto as he gulped.

"Oh, you can call me Asari and my wife's name is Suki."

Asari and Naruto went back in Sakura's hospital room after their talk. Naruto pulled his slip and hers out of his pocket. He handed Sakura hers and talked about the battle system.

"Naruto, may I see your paper?" Naruto complied and handed his to Sakura, "It seems we will be fighting.

"H-huh, what did you say?" asked Naruto in fear.

"I said that we will be fighting in the final match Chunin Exam tournament," replied Sakura.

Naruto rushed out of the door and ran out of the hospital. He ran until he saw the sand team's jonin sensei, Waki, and Kabuto talking about something in private. He began to get suspicious and walked to the side of the building they were talking in. Hayate came out of the bushes and saw Naruto. They decided to team up and listen to them.

"The invasion looks as if there will be no interruptions," said Kabuto.

"Yes, Kabuto, Baki and I have made sure of the preparations after I quit the exam."

"He is right Kabuto. Everything is ready for the invasion of the sand and sound," announced Baki.

Kabuto noticed that there was something behind the wall and ushered Baki and Waki towards it, "Come out, we know you're there."

Naruto and Hayate jumped out and faced the three villains. Kabuto use one of his original jutsu called Mind Dissipation Jutsu. It caused Naruto and Hayate to fall and clutch their heads in pain and eventually fall unconscious. Baki kicked their bodies off the building. Their bodies were on a crash course for the forest. They both landed in a lake.

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The Hokage just finished talking to each of the remaining examinees and sent them off after speaking of who's fighting who. Sasuke began to walk off as Gaara grabbed his shoulder. He stated that he wanted Sasuke to watch over his older sister and if he refused Gaara said he would turn Sasuke into a statue and sell him to the Konaha Museum. After hearing the threat, Sasuke started to walk towards the hospital.

Upon arrival of the hospital, Sasuke bumped into the jonin sensei for Team 7, Hatake Kakashi.

"Hey Uchiha, I saw your match out there and I want to know if you would like some training with your Sharingan and lightning abilities. One of the seals I know allows me to seal away the Cursed Seal on your shoulder."

"I guess I have no choice then. I'll meet you wherever you'd like," spoke Sasuke.

Kakashi took out a piece of paper and wrote on it. "Meet me at this location tomorrow," said Kakashi lazily.

Sasuke took the paper and told Kakashi goodbye and then asked the receptionist for Temari's room number. He was given it and he walked to room number 231. When he walked in, he saw Temari lying down and walked over to her. She noticed him and quickly spoke.

"You're that pervert from the exams," said Temari.

"Look, it was just an accident. Gaara threw me in and told me to get you. I didn't have much energy left after my battle and that's why I laid on you for a minute."

"I kind of enjoyed your warmth when you were on me," said Temari seductively.

"You did?" asked Sasuke as their faces neared each other.

Right as their faces were mere centimeters apart, Temari slapped him and accused him as a pervert for tying to kiss her that fast. She said that they had to go on a date first. Sasuke blushed a deep shade of red and ignored what just happened. Then they both just talked.

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Naruto opened his eyes to the forest scenery, glistening in the moonlight. He looked around until he remembered that he crashed into the lake. Hayate, also, was on the ground, out of the lake. Then an older looking man with long, white hair came out of the bushes.

"You know, you're lucky that you're not dead. If it wasn't for my weekly trip to the Konaha Hot Springs, you'd both be dead," spoke the man.

"Who the hell are you?" questioned Naruto.

"I'm the pervert, no, super pervert, author of the Icha Icha series, Jiraiya."

"Interesting, but why did you save Hayate and I?" continued Naruto in his questioning.

"You reminded me of someone who I used to teach. While I was at it, I pulled your friend out of the lake."

"Hey, Jiraiya, will you help me train for my match in the Chunin Exams Finals."

"It depends, what are you willing to do for me and how long will it take?"

"I'm willing to help you on your so called research trips and the amount of time is just about one month."

Jiraiya took his offer into consideration into deep thought and quickly responded. "It's a done deal, my pervert in training."

"You've got it, you damn Pervy Sage," laughed Naruto.

Soon after the talk between Naruto and Jiraiya, Hayate awoke and slowly stood up. He felt his head and quickly declared that his chronic illness had disappeared. Why, he didn't know. Then they all walked back to Konaha.

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One Week Later

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While Naruto and Sasuke had their own duties, Gaara spent his free time meditating and focusing out the evil inside of him. Just as the peacefulness had set in, Gaara sensed a presence not to far away that reeked of evil and scorn. He opened his eyes and stood up. The presence let off an aura that could be found easily. In this case, it was hiding inside of the Forest of Death. Gaara followed the aura until he saw the one who went by the name of Waki. Waki had an evil glint in his eyes and when he noticed Gaara, his eyes became a sea of darkness.

Before Gaara could question Waki, he was swept off of his feet and thrown into a tree trunk. Waki continued to beat Gaara until a swirl of sand surrounded him. Gaara warned him that he would crush him unless his motives were revealed. Instead of .Anger began to rise in Gaara and a thirst for blood started to manifest itself in Gaara. He launched continuous attacks at Waki without any strategy, just plain rampage. Few, if any, made contact with Waki's body.

"Do you really think that you can beat me, the container of the one tailed sand raccoon, SHUKAKU," shouted Gaara, "I never knew that I would ever find an opponent like you," continued Gaara.

"I'm not impressed with your proclamation, mostly because I carry a burden of the same sort. Inside of me is the six tailed Weasel, Jintashi!" exclaimed Waki as his skin began to grow orange fur.

Just as their inner demons were taking complete control, Itachi jumped in and struck both of them down. He put both of them on his shoulders and leaped his way to the Hokage Tower.

"_If their demons had taken more control of them, it might not have been this easy," thought Itachi, "I've never seen this side of Gaara before. He usually seems so silent and peaceful."_

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Sasuke was happy that the visiting hours were up. Keeping Temari "company" wasn't very exciting. His fear of being turned into a statue had subsided and he decided not to comeback. Instead, he was going to train with Kakashi, in preparation for his match. Right as Sasuke exited the hospital, he noticed his brother leaping branches in the direction of the Hokage Tower. He also noticed that two people were on his back, both unconscious. Itachi climbed into the window to The Hokage's office.

"Ah, Itachi, I have been expecting you after I saw the skirmish in The Forest of Death. I saw the entire battle with my crystal ball."

"So, that means you know what's going on with them," asked Itachi with a puzzled face.

The Third smoked his pipe a bit more and answered, "It seems as if they cannot control the demons they contain. It is a fight that they must fight alone. The only suggestion I might have is to have their seal tampered with, to change the way the demon inside of them can control them. There is a down side to that, the only ones I know who can tamper with seals are two of my former pupils. One of them is a maniac and the other, I hear, is out there training Naruto. I did have a third student but no one has heard from her in years."

"So, I guess there is nothing we can do at the current time," commented Itachi on the subject.

"All that we can do is

During the entire conversation, Sasuke stood outside of the window to the Hokage's Office. The news of his friend, Gaara, and someone else being demon carriers brought shock to him. At that moment he began to realize that he needed to be stronger so no demon carrier or anyone with some superhuman ability can have any advantage over him. With that in mind, Sasuke jumped off the building, a small voice in the back of his head muttering things about power and revenge against those who did him wrong. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Next Day

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Jiraiya and Naruto began their training with simple exercises such as water walking, which took Naruto a bit to learn. During the water walking exercise, Jiraiya noticed the seals on Naruto's chest. Jiraiya then figured out that Naruto carried Kyuubi. Then, when Naruto thought things couldn't get worse, Jiraiya surprised Naruto by telling him they were going to get some ramen. After eating, Jiraiya took Naruto to the hot springs. Naruto finally felt relaxed after they left the hot springs.

He reluctantly followed Jiraiya as they walked up a large cliff. Just as Naruto realized where they were going, Jiraiya pushed him down the cliff.

While he was in the midst of falling, Naruto could hear Jiraiya shouting about using Kyuubi's chakra.

"_Oh shit, Kyuubi any suggestions?" came the desperate cry of Naruto. _

"**Not really, you're falling towards the bottom of a cavern that ends with pointy shaped rocks. Water is trickling its way down the sides so you can't grab on to the wall of rocks without slipping. It looks like I will have to let you use my power, but I don't know what side effects, if any, will occur," suggested Kyuubi. **

Soon, the entire cavern exploded with rocks and debris going everywhere. Naruto stood atop the ruble with the red glow still emitting from him. The red chakra eventually went away and Naruto collapsed onto the ground. Jiraiya walked over and placed Naruto over his shoulder and silently congratulated him on a job well done. Meanwhile in Naruto's mindscape, Naruto sat in front of Kyuubi's cage, asking about any possible change in his body.

"**It seems like your senses have become keener, like a foxes. Remember, you don't want this to happen unless it is mandatory like earlier. The outcome could be disastrous." **

"_Fine, I will heed you warning." _

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The little voice in the back of Sasuke's head began to grow larger during the past hours. He tried to ignore it as he trained with Kakashi, but it just wouldn't go away. Eventually, he couldn't stand it anymore and fell to the ground clutching his head and screaming. When Sasuke opened his eyes, all he could see was darkness. Reverberating off the walls was a voice that continued to plague Sasuke.

"What are you," cried Sasuke, his voice bouncing off the walls, echoing continuously.

"**I'm the one that will make you powerful. Now, just let me take it from here." **

The floor beneath Sasuke grabbed him and began to pull him under. Then Sasuke woke up and jumped off the ground. He put aside the "nightmare" and walked back to the hotel.

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**End of Chapter 6 **

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**A/N: Not much to say besides the fact that I hated writing this chapter. See you next chapter. Please review! **


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: What Everyone's Up To **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**A/N: I've made a change with something. Thoughts will now be like this, **'thought' not "_thought"_

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Two Weeks Later

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Naruto sat a top a branch outside of the women's bathhouse with a notebook and pencil in one hand and a long, red telescope in his other. Jiraiya had sent him to collect more research on the women of the bathhouse. Basically, all Naruto had done for training is study women's private areas. Although he didn't mind it, training still stood at the top of his mental list of things to do. He hadn't seen Gaara, Sasuke, or Itachi for a while and he wondered if they were faring any better than he.

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Training Grounds

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Sasuke panted as small beads of warm sweat trickled off his scratched up chin.

Kakashi had been working with him day after day for hours upon hours. The students of Kakashi were sent to a revered tutor in the village. Whether he wanted to or not, Sasuke had to work on his jutsu non stop. In brief, Sasuke would rather be somewhere else.

"Why do you have to work me like a dog, master?" questioned the panting Sasuke.

"Simple, it's all for your benefit. Plus, I've always wanted a student like you. You resemble me in so many ways," Kakashi calmly answered. What looked like a smile could be seen outlined on his mask.

As soon as Kakashi finished, Sasuke preceded to attack Kakashi again. Only one thought still rattled around in his brain.

'What in the world is Gaara up to?'

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Deep Within the Bowels of the Forest of Death

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Gaara sat upright against the trunk of a beat up tree in the Forest of Death. Sand covered the ground of the caliginous forest and Gaara had a sense of bloodlust flowing through every part of his body. Somehow, the Shukaku had found a way to influence Gaara even more than ever.

"I will kill my opponent with my sand. It will be a nice long strangle. Then, I will strike fear into these humans," diabolically plotted Gaara as he began a maniacal laugh.

Gaara stood up and with a flick of the wrist, the tree in front of him exploded in sand. After watching the destruction with glee, Gaara gathered all of the sand in the forest and sent it in one direction, tearing down parts of the forest.

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	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 **

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

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The Day of the Final Exam

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Naruto sat a top the Yondaime's Hokage Face as the sun above the village rose, eyes closed. His training with Jiraiya concluded recently. He felt as if he had given his all during training and the outcome, he hopes, will be incredible. For the past week, most of his time was spent up on the Hokage faces relaxing. Never had he once seen the faces of his comrades so he knew they had been developing new skills as well.

"I guess it's about time I start stretching. The exams are today and I haven't been very active lately," stated Naruto with a yawn as he stood on his own two feet.

"Maybe a quick trip to Ichiraku's and a few laps around the village will help me prepare," Naruto stated with a big grin on his face.

With one quick jump, Naruto began to plummet towards the streets of the village. Yet, instead of hitting the ground, he oh so cleverly grabbed onto the ledge of a building and started to jump from building to building. The ring shaped puffs of smoke exiting the top of a nearby shop indicated the location of Ichiraku's Ramen Shop and Naruto changed direction towards it. Just as he arrived, Teuchi Ichiraku, owner of Ichiraku's Ramen, finished opening the shop with his daughter, Ayame. They were happy to see a customer so early. Right as Naruto began to eat his newly ordered Miso Ramen, the green beast of Konaha, Rock Lee, walked over to the counter.

"Hello sir, I would like to order thirteen bowls of Miso ramen. It is what Gai-sensei suggested I eat to fuel me up before my match today. Anything he says is surely true!" echoed Rock Lee through the entire street corner as he took a seat at he counter.

"Okay, okay, kid, no need to shout," calmly stated Teuchi as he passed the order to Ayame.

Lee quickly ate and paid and began a fifty lap run around the village. Naruto finished shortly after and he paid the fee before jogging to the stadium. Hayate stood outside of the main entrance with a list keeping track of each finalist entering the stadium.

"Ah, hello Naruto, how are you today?" asked Hayate with a smile, his happiness most likely coming from the disappearance of his chronic cough.

"I'm doing fine, Hayate. You can go ahead and put my name on the checklist you have there."

"I already have and it seems you still have about an hour before the start of the tournament."

"Hm, I think I'll just take a walk around the village," replied Naruto before he started jogging away.

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An alarm clock went off and Sasuke immediately stuck a kunai in it before stretching and getting out of bed. He rubbed his hazy eyes and put on his clothes.

'I'm so happy that Kakashi gave me three days to recover from training,' thought Sasuke as he adjusted the ninja bag on his belt.

"I guess it's about time I start walking to the arena" said Sasuke silently to himself.

Sasuke strapped his katana to his back and went to the balcony of his team's hotel room. He leaped off and started using the ziplines to easily get across town.

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Quite a bit of time had passed since Naruto had arrived and the competition was set to start in a few minutes. Naruto spent all of this time waiting in a lobby-like room. Only Kiba and Shino joined him in there while everyone else finished their before game preparations. The loud speakers went on moments later and the fighters were all told to report to the balconies in the stadium. Each if them complied and in mere moments, each and every fighter was on the balconies. Hayate assumed his position in the middle of the stadium and raised his arm to signal to the crowd and fighters that he was about to speak.

"Welcome everyone to the finals of this year's Chunin Exams," spoke Hayate loud and clear to the audience. He cleared his throat and continued, " Every participant that is still here has shown why they should be here by making it through three other stages of examination," finished Hayate as he called up the first fighters, Nara Shikamaru and Uchiha Sasuke.

Shikamaru yawned and lazily started plodding down the stairs to the arena floor while Sasuke quickly leaped over the railing, landing firmly on the ground. Eventually, Sasuke and Shikamaru stood in the middle of the arena, awaiting Hayate's signal for them to begin. Hayate raised his arm and yelled "go!" telling them to begin.

**Nara Shikamaru vs. Uchiha Sasuke **

Right as the signal was given, Sasuke threw three kunai at Shikamaru. Shikamaru dodged by falling to the ground and he stayed in that position, watching the clouds. Sasuke tried to take advantage of this by using a jutsu but he couldn't move a muscle. Lazily, Shikamaru looked over.

"Hey Uchiha, if you paid any attention to anything I was doing besides this, you would've noticed my Kagemane no jutsu (_Shadow Possession Technique_) in action. I now decide whether you win or lose," explained Shikamaru, his usual emotionless expression grazing his face.

Sasuke did not reply or anything like that, he just went into deep thought and tried to strategize before Shikamaru decided to end the match. Just as Shikamaru was becoming bored, Sasuke opened his eyes to reveal the Sharingan. He copied the jutsu and Shikamaru became trapped also. Now, they had complete control over each other.

"You know what, this fight is too boring. It's such a drag. I forfeit," announced Shikamaru, surprising the audience and infuriating others.

Hayate called off the match and asked both fighters if they needed any medical attention. Both Sasuke and Shikamaru said no and they made their way back to the balconies. Then Kiba and Kankuro were called to the arena. Kiba and Kankuro walked down the stairs at a slow pace and they met at the center circle where Hayate was.

"Okay fighters. Ready, go!" quickly exclaimed Hayate before stepping back a few steps.

**Kiba vs. Kankuro **

Kiba immediately brought out the big guns by going on all fours and charging Kankuro. This was dodged by Kankuro and Kankuro brought out his puppet, Karasu. With strings of chakra, Kankuro was able to command Karasu to attack Kiba. Sharp, poison filled, needles flipped out of hidden niches in Karasu's wooden exterior as Karasu neared Kiba. With a single jump, Kiba evaded the attack and used Juujin Bunshin (_Beast Human Clone_) to transform Akamaru into a copy of him. This led to the use of Gatsuuga (_Double Piercing Fang). _The man and beast combination of Kiba and Akamaru plowed right into Karasu thus destroying the puppet and sending Kankuro flying.

"You know Inuzuka, you are pretty good but not good enough to evade Karasu's poison needles," pointed out Kankuro as he lay against the arena wall and the shattered remains of Karasu lying around him.

"What're you talking about you baka (_idiot)_!" yelled Kiba as he fixated his attention on the beaten Kankuro.

"You'll find out soon enough," spat Kankuro as he fell unconscious.

Suddenly, Kiba's entire body shook and his legs collapsed beneath him and he inadvertently began to throw up on the floor. Gasps filled the stadium as Kiba's breakdown concluded as he passed out on the ground.

"Seeing as he was the last fighter standing, Inuzuka Kiba is the winner!" announced Hayate while he ushered for medic ninja to get Kankuro and Kiba.

In the stands, Hana witnessed this series of events and she quickly followed the medic ninja to the hospital they were taking her little brother. Itachi tagged along with his wife to be. After a few moments, Hayate announced the names of the next two fighters.

**Haruno Sakura vs. Uzumaki Naruto **

Putting aside any thought of forfeiting, Naruto front flipped off of the balcony and landed firmly on the floor of the arena. Sakura hurriedly ran down the stairs and met Naruto in the center of the arena. Hayate gave the signal to begin the match, but an explosion interrupted the competition. Feathers reigned upon the arena, putting each person inside to sleep unless they used Kai (_release) _to dispel the genjutsu. Waki, Baki, and Kabuto leaped into the center of the arena, ordering various sound and sand ninja to murder any Konaha ninja in their path. In the Hokage booth, a cleverly disguised Orochimaru tore off the robes of the Kazekage and proceeded to attack Sarutobi.

Gaara took off in a whirlwind of sand as commotion started up in the arena. Waki noticed Gaara's departure and he started to follow his tracks. Back in the arena, Kakashi and Hayate began to fight with Kabuto and Baki. Naruto and Sasuke saw their teammate leave and they pursued him. Deep within the forest, Waki and Gaara met in a large open area.

"Now we can continue our fight without any interruptions," began Waki as orange fur began to cover his body. "I will kill you."

"That won't happen," calmly stated Gaara as spears of sand launched at Waki.

Waki slashed through the sand with his claws as his Weasel form nearly finished forming. He sent electrical pulses from his claws that blew up the area around Gaara but Gaara's sand nullified the power of the attack. Deep inside of Gaara, the Shukaku awakened and he took full control of Gaara. Gaara took the full fledged form of the demon and Shukaku sent four bursts of air at the Rokubi (_six tailed Weasel_.) Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke finally arrived at the battle seen.

"Shit, how are we going to stop them?" asked Sasuke to Naruto as he watched the ongoing battle.

"Look closely, Gaara is on top of the huge sand raccoon," pointed out Naruto.

"**Kit, his name is Shukaku,**" input Kyuubi. "**He's the most perverted and annoying of all tailed demons, in my opinion. The other one is the most sadistic demon, Rokubi. You'll have a hell of a time taking these two down."**

'Is there any way I can use some of your energy?' mentally spoke Naruto to Kyuubi.

"**I suppose but try not to overdue it," replied the nine tailed fox. **

Naruto felt a surge of power after his conversation and he leapt off of the branch he and Sasuke were on, spherical balls of red spirit energy in both hands.

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**End of Chapter 8 **


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Taking the Demons Down A Notch **

**Disclaimer; I Don't Own Naruto **

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Naruto launched his arm forward, bent on blowing the sand raccoon up and getting Gaara out of his current state. This attempt, though, was unsuccessful because a wall of sand emerged in front of the raccoon, nullifying the attack completely. Meanwhile, Sasuke began a duel of lightning based attacks against Rokubi, but he was also unsuccessful. A single strike of lightning hit him right in the chest and he was thrown right into the ground.

After wiping dry blood off of his mouth, Sasuke stood up and withdrew his katana. Rage consumed him and the seal holding in the curse mark on his shoulder shattered. On the other side of the battleground, Naruto had been holding his own with his spirit attacks, but fatigue began to over take him.

"**Kit, you need to stop using spirit energy. You could die!" **somewhat enthusiastically, yelled Kyuubi.

'Don't worry, Kyuubi. One more attack won't kill me'

Before Kyuubi could continue talking, Naruto blocked him out and began channeling as much spirit energy as possible. He then leapt at Shukaku and dove right through him and the sand raccoon went up in an explosion. Gaara tumbled across the ground as he fell from the sand raccoon and Naruto fell straight to the ground, a bunch of sand falling on top of him. Inside of Naruto's mind, Kyuubi sat in his cage as he stared at the body of Naruto that lay across the sewer floor.

"**Damn, kit, what have you done this time?" wondered Kyuubi, aloud. **

Black flames covered Sasuke's entire body as he walked towards Rokubi. Several strikes of lightning were launched at Sasuke but Sasuke dodged them with ease. As he walked to Rokubi, a small spark generated in his hand. That spark turned into a full blown chidori and he then ran at Rokubi at full speed. Despite being electrocuted each moment he was nearing incapacitated Waki, Sasuke still managed to lodge the chidori in Waki's chest. A smoldering Sasuke fell to the ground as a single strike of lightning lit up the sky.

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Itachi was beginning to get pissed off as he struck down another sand ninja. He had joined the rest of the Inuzuka's as Hana stayed with Kiba to insure his safety. The onslaught of sand and sound ninja just kept coming and Itachi was getting tired of them. Before he took off again, Itachi noticed a huge lightning strike light up the sky. Then, he began jumping from rooftop to rooftop, scanning for enemy ninja, but instead, he saw a huge cube of dark energy that he couldn't see through. Holding the barrier up were four ninja that Itachi did not recognize.

'They seem to be from the sound and they must be somewhat important since they are holding a barrier this big up,' analyzed Itachi as he stood a far distance away.

After withdrawing his katana, Itachi sprinted towards the ninja he classified as 'the fat one with orange hair.' With one jab, Itachi took the life of the overweight sound ninja and the barrier slightly cracked. The other three ninja holding up the barrier withdrew from it and they approached Itachi as the barrier dropped, revealing a fight between Orochimaru and Sarutobi.

"It seems you can't hold up the barrier any longer, scum," spat Itachi as he wiped blood off of his Katana.

"You will pay, leaf ninja. You murdered Jirobo!" shouted a two bodied ninja named Sakon and Ukon.

"Yeah, you fuck head. That's the last time you'll kill any sound ninja, bitch," dirtily spoke a pink haired ninja named Tayuya.

Before anymore introductions could be made, Itachi activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and used Tsukuyomi to torture the three sound ninja until they fell unconscious.

"Whew, Tsukuyomi sure takes a lot out of me," panted Itachi before rushing to help Sarutobi in his fight, but before he could even enter the parameters of the fight, two figures that resembled the first and second hokages launched him backwards.

Itachi regained his composure by sending chakra to his feet, allowing him to stop in his tracks before he slammed into any walls. In front of Itachi stood two of the greatest figures in Konaha's history, the Shodaime and Nidaime hokages.

'Someone must've used some technique to bring them back so they could keep any other ninja away. I need to think of something and I need to think of it fast. Using Tsukuyomi again would drain me of nearly all of my remaining chakra so that's out. Damn it, I need to think of something!'

Itachi dodged multiple plant and water techniques as he thought of a plan of action, but he ended up resorting to trying to kill these two figures of legend with regular combat. After jumping over a vine launched at him by the Shodaime, Itachi started running up it to reach the Shodaime. The Nidaime shot a huge ice jutsu at Itachi but Itachi used Katon: Karyuu Endan (_Fire Style: Swirling Current Round Shot) _to melt it and send a little something extra at the Nidaime. He then grasped his katana firmly and slashed at the Shodaime after flipping over a second launched vine. The blow resulted in the Shodaime disappearing in a small spiral of silver vapor.

Right before he fell to the ground from exhaustion, Itachi noticed the same thing happen to the Nidaime. From his position on the floor, Itachi watched a little more of Sarutobi's battle before passing out from chakra exhaustion.

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A green blur sped to the location of the demon fights in the forest and he immediately stopped in his tracks as he arrived.

"YOSH!! The green beast of Konaha has arrived and as it seems, I will be returning you to the village. I will be sure to make it to the village as fast as possible," spoke Lee as loud as he could to what seemed to be himself since everyone else there was incapacitated.

Just as he said, Lee brought each of them back to the village. In fact, he beat his record time of getting back to the village.

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**End of chapter 9**


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Kyuubi Plays Mah Jong? **

**A/N: If anyone would like to co author the story with me, please let me know. I need someone to help me make the story better and help me when I get Writer's Block!**

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Thoughts that raged in Itachi's mind ceased as he began to open his eyes. At first, blurs were all that he could make out, but in a matter of seconds, everything began filling out. Frankly, Itachi ached all over from his over exhaustion of chakra and wounds. Around him was the scenery of a normal hospital room with various machines around him. Very slowly, Itachi laid back again and watched the rays of sunshine entering through the window.

'Damn, I hate being in this condition! I need to know how Hana is doing and what happened with Sandaime-sama.'

In another part of the hospital Itachi resided in, Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara were in worse condition. Naruto's chakra reserves were shot and the overuse of Kyuubi's spirit energy left him in the sewers of his mind, hanging on to his existence by a single thread. Sasuke was left severely burned and wounded after his use of the curse mark for an extended period of time and his attack on Waki which electrocuted him thoroughly, but the healing done on him by medic nins left his body in a better condition. The most unusual of the conditions was Gaara's. No injuries were visible on his body, yet he still lay unconscious on the hospital bed.

In Konaha, the village had been left in ruins after the attack had subsided. Atop one of the highest buildings in the village, the Sandaime hokage laid peacefully on the ground, breathing slowly. After hours of endless fighting against his former pupil, Orochimaru, Sarutobi prevailed victorious as Orochimaru ran from the battle. He felt he owed a lot to young Itachi for taking a lot of extra opponents off of his hands. With those thoughts, he closed his eyes and slowly drifted out of consciousness.

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"I win Kyuubi-kun!" shouted Naruto in the sewers of his mind as he pointed to the completed game of Mah Jong on the sewer floor.

"**I swear kit, I will learn how these games work and beat you. You only won because you've played them before!" **nearly whined Kyuubi as he swung a tail through his cage bars that shattered the board.

During Naruto's time with Kyuubi, he became very board very quickly. Eventually, he came up with the idea of playing games. Kyuubi had absolutely no idea what a game was, so, now, Naruto spent most of his time telling Kyuubi what games to summon and teaching Kyuubi how to play.

"So, Kyuubi-kun, how's my body doing?" asked Naruto as he sat against Kyuubi's cage.

"**You really beat yourself up, kit. I'd say another week until you wake up." **

"Thanks for the update. I think I'll just explore the corridors in here for a while," mumbled Naruto before standing up and walking away.

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**End of Chapter 10 **


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Just Awake and, Already, a New Mission **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. **

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Three Days Later

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With a sudden jolt, a fully energized Naruto awoke in his hospital bed. After yawning, he mentally thanked Kyuubi and slipped out of bed.

"Dang it! Where's my black ninja outfit?" shouted Naruto but not loud enough to get anyone to fixate their attention on him.

Just minutes after saying that line, he noticed a black uniform covered in holes and tears. He sighed and decided to leap out of the window in his hospital gown. Eventually, after leaping down a few stories of the hospital, Naruto reached the ground to find debris littering the streets and torn apart buildings.

"How long was I out?" asked Naruto out loud. "This place is a dump."

"Naruto!" shouted a voice that Naruto immediately recognized as Sakura's. "Why are you wearing that hospital gown? Don't you have other clothes to wear? Oh and did you receive the flowers I sent you. It was my way of saying thanks for training with me."

"Sadly, my clothes were nicked, torn, you name it, in one of my most recent fights. Actually, I don't have any other clothes besides those. Flowers, I didn't see any flowers. I guess I just wasn't paying attention to anything around me while I left," replied Naruto as he looked around at the villagers and ninja attempting to repair the village.

"Oh, well, I guess it wasn't your fault. Just mine for taking the time to get those flowers," silently said Sakura under her breath.

"Hm? Did you say something? I sort of spaced out for a few seconds. Do you know what happened in the village?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah, Otogakure and Sunagakure teamed up and tried to take us down. It's hard to tell who won the battle when you look at all of this wreckage," replied Sakura as she too scanned the village.

For the next few minutes, Naruto and Sakura conversed about the battle until two medical ninja spotted Naruto and chased him down the road to get him back to the infirmary. Quickly, Naruto hopped a few roofs and leaped into the window leading into the Hokage Office, and right there, sitting in his usual chair sat a very tired looking Sarutobi.

The old man, caressed his snow white beard and stared at Naruto before chuckling, "Ah, Naruto, I see you're up and ready to go today."

"Got that right old man, say, can you get those annoying medics off of my tail?" asked Naruto as he pointed at yelling medics outside of the window.

Sarutobi dismissed the medics and cringed as a wound on his left side shot pain down his back.

"Old man, are you okay? Did the battle take a lot out of you?" catechized Naruto while looking at Sarutobi in pain.

"Everything's fine Naruto. Just a battle wound. Anyway, it's convenient that you're here because I have a mission that I think you should take. The mission is one to Tonbogakure's ruins. There's a temple still there that is home to a potion said to cure any wound, but the potion is said to be well hidden and guarded."

"Sure, sounds good, but who exactly is the potion for and who'll be my teammates since Sasuke and Gaara are down for the count?" blandly questioned the seated Hokage.

"Naruto, my boy, the potion is for your friends and Itachi. They're in horrible states that the village medics cannot heal. That is why I chose you to go on this mission. Oh and your teammates will be two fellow Genin of yours, Sakura Haruno and Neji Hyuga. Out of the ninja in the village, they are the best fit ninja for this dispatch. Leading your team is the only Jonin I have for dispatch, Genma Shiranui."

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End of Chapter 11

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	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: A New Inventory **

**Disclaimer: I Don't Own Naruto **

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Naruto nodded to the Hokage before shivering in his hospital gown. He glared at the window which was open with winds sweeping in through it.

"Is there anyway I can get some clothes?" asked Naruto while still shivering.

"Of course, Naruto, just pay a trip to Fukumi's All Purpose Shop. It's right next to Ichiraku's Ramen. Surprisingly, it was one of the few shops that remained intact after the battle..." started Sarutobi but stopped when he saw that Naruto had left.

Eventually, Naruto found a small, brown, shop fixated between Ichiraku's and a destroyed building that looked like a bank. Upon entry, Naruto noticed a few dusty old clothes and a rack full of old newspapers. In the corner stood a desk and behind it stood a short, stout, man.

"What's a kid like you doing here?" questioned the short man named Fukumi.

"Oh, um, the Old Man Hokage sent me to get some clothes. You see, my only set was destroyed."

"Say no more, boy, if Sarutobi told you to come here, then I'll give you the clothes, free of price, but don't expect anymore favors like this to come in," declared Fukumi, his unusually loud voice echoing through the shop.

"What exactly do you have to offer besides all of this junk?" an inquisitive Naruto questioned.

"Heh, kid, be patient. Just follow me. I keep the goods in a safe place. That's why the sound and sand didn't tear this place apart. There was no point! Because they didn't see anything"

"I'm patient! It's just really cold in this damn hospital gown!" retorted Naruto while following Fukumi.

Fukumi pressed his right hand against the back wall, flooding it with a light blue chakra, thus opening a passageway. He led Naruto down a tunnel and they came upon a room that seemed to go on for miles, filled with ninja armor and equipment.

"Impressive, right, kid?" asked Fukumi while looking at his collection.

"Awesome! This place has everything. I want this and that..." spoke Naruto while browsing the collection.

"This is all armor. If you want weapons, check in with my granddaughter back there. She knows the entire weapon selection by heart," called out Fukumi before stepping out to smoke.

After browsing through the entire armor selection, Naruto started towards the abundant supply of weapons. Before he touched anything, someone yelled from behind, wondering who it was.

"Hey! Who are you?" asked what looked like a kunoichi with her hair in buns.

"I'm down here on Hokage orders! I needed new clothes and equipment. Fukumi let me down here. Are you the weapon person he mentioned?"

"Yeah, I keep track of gramps' weapons for him. I didn't know you were down here on Hokage's order. I guess that's my fault for jumping out and scaring you like that. You're that Naruto person from the exams, right?"

"Yep, that's me. I think I remember you too, Tenten is your name, right?" asked Naruto while poking sharp weapons.

"Bingo, that my name. Anyway, are you looking for anything special?"

"Well, I think I'll check out the clothes again but for now I want to look at the weapons. I want to get something that's good with chakra," dilatorily declared Naruto.

"There is one weapon I think that fits your description. I'll go get gramps," quickly inserted Tenten before running after Fukumi.

Moments later, Fukumi walked back in with his granddaughter and they approached a black box against the wall. Fukumi took out a key and slipped it into the lock. He spit out the cigarette but in his mouth before lifting up the trunk top. Inside of the box, lay an elongated sword with a green and black hilt with the kanji for wind on it and a sort of long blade with designs carved into it.

"Kid, this blade is legendary. It is said to have belonged to the ancient shinobi who discovered the wind country all those years ago. He supposedly lost in a battle to an evil demon. His sword was discovered by an ancestor of mine and Tenten's family and it's been passed down generation by generation," input Fukumi while holding the fine crafted blade.

"Wow, I wish I had that," marveled Naruto while looking at the blade.

"Even if I gave it to you, it wouldn't work. Apparently, it only worked for that certain ancient shinobi. Here, try holding it," stated Fukumi before handing Naruto the blade.

Naruto held it carefully in both hands before grasping the hilt firmly in one hand. Suddenly, wind began circulating around the blade, whistling as it swerved around in circles, but it went away when Naruto quickly handed it back to Fukumi. Both Fukumi and Tenten stared wide eyed at the spectacle that Naruto just put on,

"It's supposed to do that, right?" a surprised Naruto said while pointing at the blade in Fukumi's rough looking hands.

"N-no I don't think so. It certainly hasn't happened yet as long as it's been in my possession," responded the still thunderstruck Fukumi.

"Then what's going on?" asked Naruto, a great look of disbelief of what just happened plastered all over his face.

"I think you must be some kind of chosen wielder or something along those lines," input Tenten who had been mysteriously quiet this entire time.

"I think she may be right, kid, maybe you should take this sword off of our family's hands. Hell knows what other things we can do with it."

"A-are you actually giving me the sword?" cross-examined Naruto.

"Well, in some cases, yes, but I'm going to put you through some hard labor in here when you don't have missions. It'll be your way of payback," stated Fukumi, Tenten nodding to him.

"Aw man, well, I guess I'll do it," sadly declared Naruto, his head hung low.

For the next hour, Naruto picked out clothes. They consisted of just casual fashions to wear around the village, and just one being his mission uniform. The uniform was comprised of a pair of tight, black and orange pants, a pair of black sandals, a fish net shirt, and an orange and blue, hooded jacket. Fukumi even volunteered to make Naruto a genuine leaf headband, which was gladly accepted. Before leaving with all of his items, Naruto bowed in thanks to Tenten and Fukumi and then, he exited through the tunnel and exited through the shop front. Stunned villagers watched Naruto carry all of his items out of the shop because, to their common knowledge, Fukumi's was just a shop full of old newspapers and clothes full of moth balls. At long last, Naruto reached his team's hotel and retreated to his room in the suite that his team had.

"Whew, at least I got that out of the way. Now all that's left is to sleep until tomorrow, the mission day," declared Naruto out loud to himself before falling asleep on his futon.

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Sakura walked silently through an area full of houses before approaching one that stands higher than most of the others. She took one last glance at the moon beginning to come out and opened the door to her home, closing it shortly after. Inside, she was immediately greeted by her mother and her father soon afterwards. Right before Sakura retreated to her room upstairs, Suki held up a scroll and called back Sakura.

"Sakura, honey, you have a new mission assigned from the Hokage. I saw that your teammates are going to be Hyuga Neji and Uzumaki Naruto. You like that Uzumaki boy, right?"

"Mother! I do not like him!" exclaimed Sakura.

"**Yeah right," inserted Sakura's inner persona.**

'Don't talk, please, I'm not in the mood to hear your voice right now,' mentally scolded Sakura.

"**But I have your voice, so you don't want to hear your own voice? Gasp!" **

'Shut the hell up!' mentally retorted the ticked off Sakura before blocking her inner self out.

"Whatever you say honey," said Sakura's mom while handing Sakura her mission scroll.

Eventually, Sakura made it to her room and she immediately sat on the floor and opened her scroll. She skipped to the mission description and began reading it. Soon after starting, she finished and went into a trance of thought dealing with her mission.

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"Neji, a mission scroll has just been sent to you from the Hokage. It seems to be very important," stated Hiashi Hyuga before tossing the scroll to Neji and walking away.

"I'll look over it eventually," said Neji quietly before returning to his meditative state.

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**End of Chapter 12 **


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: To Tonbogakure! **

**Disclaimer: I Don't Own Naruto **

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Rays of sunshine cracked through the window sills cascading down the beautiful, fine crafted window in Naruto's room. He cracked one eye open and suddenly looked at the clock hanging on his wall and realized his team for his upcoming mission was to meet at the Gates of Konaha in fifteen minutes.

"Oh shit!" proclaimed Naruto before getting up off of his futon and getting his mission uniform together.

He finished putting his clothes on in five minutes and he immediately walked over to the suite's pantry and sighed a sigh of relief when he saw that there were cups of instant ramen provided. He heated a cup of instant miso ramen and slurped it down as fast as possible but only finishing half of the cup before grabbing his new sword, which he's named Kazemougi (_Wind's Fury_), and heading out of the door.

'Damn, damn, damn, damn. Only three minutes left!' shouted Naruto in his head.

"**Calm down and shut up kit, I'm trying to sleep," shouted Kyuubi before returning to his slumber. **

Naruto ignored Kyuubi and leaped over one last rooftop before skidding to a stop I front of Sakura and Neji. He told them his story but stopped in the middle when they lost interest. Exactly on time, Genma poofed in, right in front of the gates leading out of the gates.

"So you're my team for this mission. Nice to meet you all, I am Shiranui Genma," said Genma while a smile.

"Wow, you aren't like all the other Jonin in this village. The rest are either lazy, loud, dangerous, clumsy, or all of the above," input Naruto while looking Genma over.

"I'll take that as a good thing," commented Genma on Naruto's remark, "I think it would be best if you all introduced yourselves to me so I know more about my team."

"Why don't you start Genma?" asked Sakura.

"Sure why not. My name is Shiranui Genma. I'm a native of the Village Hidden in The Leaves and my hobbies mostly revolve around taking missions," announced Genma before pointing to Neji next, signaling that it was his turn to speak.

"My name is Hyuga Neji. I am a member of the branch family of the Hyuga Clan."

"Anymore you elaborate upon, Neji?" a curious Genma wondered. Neji just shook his head.

"I guess I'll go next," started Sakura, "My name is Haruno Sakura and I am a Genin kunoichi of the Village Hidden in The Leaves. My goals consist of being an idol to kunoichi every, someday, and settling down and starting a family sometime in the future," said Sakura.

"I'm going next! The name's Uzumaki Naruto and I'm the strongest ninja you'll ever see. Um, I don't exactly have any hobbies, but my goal is to become the greatest ninja on the planet!" a hyperactive Naruto shouted to the sky before quieting back down.

'This is going to be quite the experience,' thought Genma while looking at his team.

In a matter of moments, the team set out of Konaha and they began their long walk to Tonbogakure (_Hidden Dragonfly Village.) _

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Two Hours Later

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Two hours had past and the team had kept quiet the entire time. No conversation or anything because of their slight unfamiliarity with each other. This was until the team leader Genma broke the silence.

"There's a small town up ahead. No name has been filed in Konaha so to us, it's a ghost town. We need to pass through it, though. It's on the only route to Tonbogakure. I just thought I'd let you know," said Genma nonchalantly.

"Hopefully it will make this journey more fulfilling," remarked the quietest of the bunch, Neji.

Genma replied with a sigh and he led the team into town. Inside the village, people dressed in rugged clothing were walking around doing their daily duties, but they all stopped when they saw the ninja walk in.

"It's them. They're demons! Lock up the children and yourselves," yelled an older man missing his two front teeth before running off.

"Oh lord, why have you scorned us like this!" screamed a young woman before picking up her young son and rushing off.

"Huh? What the hell?" a confused Naruto said while looking at the terrified townspeople.

"I don't know Na-," began Genma until a scared townsperson tried impaling him with a pitchfork.

"Die demons. You shall not rein terror upon us any longer!" the deranged townsperson screamed loudly while flailing his pitchfork.

The pitchfork impaled Genma in the chest and the townsperson began to shout in cheer, but Genma's body went up in smoke. Seconds later, Genma was holding a kunai against the townsperson's throat. Genma demanded that the young townsperson drop his weapon and tell him why they're reacting as they are.

"W-why are you asking me this? You're the ones that attacked us, you ninja scum."

"We, and the rest of our village, have never attacked you, though it may have been another one," replied Genma before pushing the townsperson away.

"The ones that attacked us, they had headbands similar to yours but hey had symbols that differed from yours. It was a group of four. The symbols on their headbands resembled that of a dragonfly," pleaded the townsperson before running away.

The team left the village shortly after. Naruto and Sakura began talking between each other about what just happened and this was all that happened for the next few hours until Genma stopped everyone and pointed to the remains of a destroyed village.

"There it is. Tonbogakure, I heard it used to be a really nice village until it was destroyed in a war back in the day," spoke Genma while crossing his arms and looking at the decimated village.

"Who was the war with?" came the voice of Sakura

Before Genma could respond, Neji coolly replied, "Konaha was the village that destroyed this small one. We were supposed to call it off, but a band of ninja, including even Hyuga ninja, finished the job without orders to. Though, there are still, supposedly, Dragonfly Nin still roam around these parts," explained Neji before quieting himself again.

Neji activated his Byakugan on Genma's orders and began browsing the ruins for any type of temple entrance. Naruto and Sakura started looking around randomly with Genma, but Neji called out to them while pointing to a spot that seemed different from the others.

"There's an entrance right here. It's been well covered. Apparently, everything around it must have been destroyed, leaving this hatch. If we go in, there's no telling who or what we will find," pointed out Neji, Byakugan still active.

"Awesome! Let's go in!" shouted Naruto before jumping over to the hatch and lifting it up.

Right as Naruto opened the hatch; he heard something and looked at the hatch top, realizing that a letter bomb was strapped to it. It detonated, blowing up the area around him and Neji. When the smoke cleared, Genma and Sakura were left looking at a caved in hole where Neji and Naruto were standing.

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**End of Chapter 13 **

**A/N: Hope you guys (and gals) enjoyed this one. Please review. **


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto **

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Neji and Naruto were falling in a light less cavern at a very fast downward motion. Silently, Neji used his Byakugan to attempt to see where the possibly approaching ground resided.

'It seems we will be hitting the ground in a matter of moments. Grr, what are we going to do to stop the maximum impact Naruto and I will have on the ground. Wait, that's it!' mentally discovered Neji, "Eight Trigrams Heavenly Spin!" yelled Neji as he and Naruto hit the ground.

The result of Neji's tactics led to the creation of a crater in the ground where he and Naruto slowly came out of.

"Nice thinking Neji! It could've been pretty nasty back there," proclaimed Naruto.

"It wasn't a problem," responded the heroic Neji with his usual serious look taking over his facial complexion, "Now how are we going to get some light shed in here? We can see each other slightly but as for the rest of the caverns in front of us, they can hardly be made out.

"Then we'll just have to be careful about it," responded Naruto with his trademark grin before feeling around him and attempting to move forward.

Over time, Neji and Naruto were able to progress forward, but while walking the both of them could've sworn they felt something brush against their ankle briefly. Naruto, while brushing his rough hands against ruble around him, soon spotted a crack of light in front of him. He unsheathed _Kazemougi _and waited for wind to circulate around it before realizing there was no source of wind around him.

"Fuck! I guess I'll just have to use the blade instead," bellowed Naruto, a curious Neji wondering what he was talking about while standing across from Naruto.

Quickly, Naruto bashed through the crack, making it a small hole and with a few more slashes and punches, he created a huge hole, easily able to be crawled through. He and Neji crawled through and entered the source of the light only to find a sanctuary surrounded in pitch black, cobblestone walls with torches lining down them. In the middle of the room, some kind of alter stood with a dusty book lying on it, open. A malignant voice echoed as Neji and Naruto approached the book.

"You dare touch the book of our ancestors? That is a crime punishable by…death," echoed the voice, "Watch yourselves!"

"Huh, what the fuck?" a perplexed Naruto wondered before noticing four figures walk out of the shadows.

"Who do we have here? Two intruders?" questioned one of the figures.

"I don't know K, but I do think they should be dispatched," responded a shorter looking figure in a malign tone.

"Agreed, let's kill them," entered a third voice before the voices ceased entirely.

Neji, Byakugan still active, spotted one of the figures moving at a fast speed towards Naruto stealthily. He ran quickly and with one jab, his fingers landed near the heart area of the moving unit. Then, all hell broke loose. The other two units who had previously spoken started advancing towards their present targets, Naruto and Neji. One of them named Ravir started a close quarter's blade to blade fight, all while the other named Hasin began using long range combat against Neji.

"It doesn't look like you're very good at Kenjutsu, punk," maniacally spat Ravir before ducking a very sloppy slash by Naruto and swinging for Naruto's left ankle.

A very annoyed Naruto cringed when he felt the flesh on his left ankle open, "Hehehe, guess your right. I'll just use my other attacks," retorted Naruto while flashing a grin.

With one movement, Naruto used his right leg to kick Ravir away. He landed awkwardly on his left leg and a jolt of pain crawled up his spine, but he ignored it as best as possible and started forming signs.

"Wind Release: Fuujin Whirlwind!" shouted Naruto before sending a twirling vortex of air towards Ravir, which ended up blowing Ravir off his feet and tumbling into a wall.

Away from Naruto, Neji was faring well against Hasin. Though, he began to feel weary because of his slight overuse of his Byakugan. Hasin took advantage of the moment Neji began to breathe heavily and wrapped a wire around Neji's ankle, sending Neji to the ground.

"You're at my mercy now," laughed Hasin.

"You might want to think that over," coolly responded Neji before shouting, "Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms!"

Hasin fell directly backwards after being hit with the barrage of attacks and stopped moving entirely almost immediately. Neji deactivated his Byakugan and started to get the wire off of his leg. A slightly worried Naruto walked over to Neji to assure his health was in no danger and picked him up.

"You know Neji, I could've sworn there was another person over the-," began Naruto until he and Neji were thrown backwards from the explosion of an exploding tag.

"You may have beaten those three town pillagers, but I'm no pushover. They call me Gannou, the trap master," spoke an old man holding a kunai in one hand.

"Please, don't keep up these explosions. The caverns will cave in," pleaded Naruto while looking at the elderly Gannou.

Gannou disregarded the plea and held another kunai out and he slowly began to tie an exploding tag to it. Naruto and, a weak in the knees, Neji looked at the man curiously before advancing towards him. To possibly distract him, Naruto sent multiple shuriken at Gannou, but Gannou dodged them with expertise while still holding his tools.

'Heh, guess I'll use one of my favorite jutsu,' thought Naruto to himself before shouting, "Kage Bunshin no jutsu! (_Shadow clone jutsu_)

Several shadow replications of Naruto appeared and each, along with the actual Naruto, loaded a flurry of punches. Neji prepared to go into his main taijutsu stance while watching Naruto. Right before Naruto and his doppelgangers could reach Gannou, they were forced to stop when they ran into a nearly invisible wire. Multiple kunai were released as the wires snapped and four of them pierced the real Naruto In the chest. The moment Naruto was hit; Gannou chuckled and threw his exploding kunai at the moving Neji. Even though he did not have his Byakugan active, Neji noticed the kunai coming at him and he grabbed it by the tag and stopped it from exploding.

"That's a very keen eye you have, son. Better than your friend's eye," pointed out Gannou while looking at Neji.

"Don't count me out just yet" shouted Naruto while the kunai still stuck in his chest.

"Then I guess you two can evade my greatest trap," said Gannou before tripping a wire in front of his nose, causing hundreds of kunai with a green poison tip to drop down on separate wires from the ceiling.

'Shit! Aw man, we're dead meat. I guess I could try _Kazemougi_ again,' mentally panicked Naruto before pulling out the weapon he had absolutely no mastery of.

"Now, my trap is set," shouted Gannou before releasing every single kunai.

Naruto gripped his blade hilt and closed his eyes. He listened to the faint whistles of wind around him and picked his blade up and swung his blade as hard as possible at the kunai. The wind seeping through the cracks of the cavern twirled around the blade all the way to the tip and it launched itself at each and every kunai, changing its direction to north. When Naruto opened his eyes, he discovered every kunai lodged in the ceiling and the shocked expression on Gannou's face, but it wasn't Naruto's attack that amazed him, it was the fact that one kunai didn't go north and it wedged into Gannou's stomach.

"Are you okay, old guy?" wondered Naruto while rushing over to him.

A rasping Gannou opened his mouth and spoke a few words, "Potion…alter…book," before closing his eyes and breathing slower and slower.

"Neji! Go to the altar. I think the potion we're supposed to be finding might be over there or maybe it has something to do with it.

Neji immediately complied and lurched his way over to the altar, "Naruto, I don't see anything!"

"Gannou said something about the book. Does that help at all?" asked Naruto while staring at Gannou's body.

Neji cursed under his breath and started flipping book pages until he came to an odd page with an indentation. When he further observed it, he saw a small vial with a silver liquid in it. Then, Neji pulled it out quickly and made his way over to Naruto. He handed it over and Naruto pulled off the lid and poured one drop of the potion in Gannou's mouth and after a few moments, Gannou began breathing again.

"I-it nullified the poison! This thing really does cure anything," excitedly yelled Naruto before screwing the top back on.

"Naruto, as much as I'd like to stay and discuss this, I think it's time we try and get out of here," pointed out Neji.

"Alright, we have to make see if there's anyone else that can brought out of here," said Naruto.

"I already checked, the three ninja we fought a-," began Naruto until he was interrupted by Gannou surprisingly.

"N-no, you can't get anyone else. T-there's a h-huge trap set up in here. A series of e-exploding tags are lined up everywhere and they'll go off very soon," began Gannou before stopping, breathing and speaking again, "In the back, over there, t-there's an exit, but you need to get out fast.

Naruto and Neji picked up Gannou and supported him as they walked towards where Gannou pointed. Right as they reached the exit, a loud explosion went off and another soon followed until the noises began to get louder. Naruto, Gannou, and Neji all exited and through the back and they made their way to another hatch that Gannou opened with his right arm. The three of them each got through the hatch and closed it right as Neji, the last of them, exited. Moments later, the hatch blew off into the distance.

"Just in time, eh boys?" a slightly riveted and excited Gannou said while smiling, though Neji and Naruto both sighed and laid back against ruble.

When they saw the hatch blow off into the sky, Sakura and Genma rushed over to where the hatch came from to find the rest of the team and someone they'd never seen before.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Town Full of Ninja Phobic People

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Just as the townspeople began to settle down after their previous encounter with Genma and company, a burning hatch from far away came into view.

"It's the ninja again! They're gonna kill us all!" screamed the seemingly only frightful townsperson before being nailed by the flaming hatch.

A tall, male villager with black curly hair, black clothes, and a top hat stared at the guy that just got crushed and turned to his wife, "The jackass had it coming," said the man in a deep voice before walking away.

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**End of Chapter 14 **


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. **

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Naruto tossed the vial of potion to Genma, who fumbled it slightly before securing it and placing it in his pack. Shortly afterwards, the worn-out Naruto stood up and wiped off some dry blood on his scratched chin before grinning.

"Mission accomplished Genma! We've secured the potion," shouted the in high spirits Naruto.

"I can see that, Naruto. Nice work, but may I ask who the man over there by Neji is?" inquired Genma while switching his senbon from the left side of his mouth to the right.

"I think his name is Gannou. We fought him and some others down in the caverns underground. I'm not exactly sure why they decided to fight us," said Naruto.

"That potion is sacred to Tonbogakure. My apprentices and I were its sole protectors. Now, you've come, killed my apprentices, and stolen the potion," alleged Gannou before standing up.

"Concerning the ones you taught, they attacked first and out of self defense, we had to fight back. You should've stopped them," calmly added Neji, eyes closed.

"You speak the truth," began Gannou, "but that does not mean I will ever forgive you for slaying them."

"I never asked for forgiveness in the first place," spat Neji, who was obviously annoyed.

"If I may cut in, I'd like to return to the subject of the potion. Nothing is for sure about what's going to be done with it, so, we shall bring the decision to the Hokage," cut in Genma.

Sakura watched the conversation for a few minutes before walking over to Naruto, concerned about him and his status, health wise. She walked right over to him and attempted to get his attention.

"Hey, Naruto, are you okay? I just wanted to check on you since you're my teammate and all," said Sakura while smiling.

Naruto turned away from the others and smiled back at Sakura, "Hehe, yeah, I'll be fine, just a few scratches here and there. Thanks for asking."

"You're welcome, Naruto," responded Sakura, her ongoing smile continuing.

"You know, I was wondering, I-if you, erm, wanted to ge-," started Naruto while scratching his head, before taking a punch across the face.

Standing over Naruto stood Ravir cracking his knuckles. Right after Ravir's punch, Hasin and K bolted through the ground, injury free.

"Surprised to see us?" asked Hasin while looking between Naruto and Neji, "All three of us escaped that cavern through a secret tunnel. We'd originally stolen some of the vials contents, and, you guessed it, we used shared the small amount we had and here we are, ready for some revenge."

The first to strike back was Naruto, who attempted tripping the standing Ravir. Ravir saw this and caught Naruto's leg. He then threw Naruto against a boulder. Neji cracked his eyes open and saw the blurred figures of those around him. He knew he was in no condition to fight, yet, he still staggered up on his feet. His stance was shaky yet he still thought he had a little bit left in him. Genma attempted to sprint over to Neji and try to give him some potion, but K managed to snatch it from Genma and trip him.

"Hey Gannou, get the hell over here! The action's getting good," shouted K before pointing his fingertips at the dead grass covered ground, getting no response from Gannou.

Blades of grass filled the air and sharpened themselves. K then pointed his fingers at Genma and the blades of grass flew straight at him. Right before they made contact, Genma took out his senbon and it extended. He then sliced the blades of grass swiftly and pointed his senbon blade at K.

"Nice try kid, but I've got a lot more experience under my belt. I, like a hunter nin, can use a senbon as a deadly weapon. You see, my father and mother were hunter nin and they taught me all I knew," said a smirking Genma before swiftly moving in different motions toward K.

A dizzy, and scared, K started to lift more and more dead grass into the air before a wall of pointed blades of grass had been formed. Slowly gaining back his confidence, K sent the entire flock of grass at Genma.

"So that's how you want to play, eh?" said Genma, "Senbon Dance: 100 Cut Barrage!" finished Genma before closing his eyes and slicing the blades of grass down to size in mere seconds.

"D-damn it, I can't get my grass to harm you. What a fucking useless bloodline limit!" K shouted before trying to run away in fear.

Genma sighed at the cowardice of his opponent before throwing his senbon directly at K's neck, but, some unknown force knocked the senbon far away. Standing in front of K were Hasin, holding Neji by the neck after beating him down again just moments ago and on the ground in front of him was Sakura, blood leaking out of her chest. Opposite of Hasin stood Ravir with Naruto. Naruto cursed at Ravir loudly while spitting blood out of his mouth. Ravir grimaced and took Naruto by the head and threw it, and the rest of his body, into the ground.

"Shut it kid. Your voice hurts my ears!" a pissed off Ravir yelled in Naruto's ear while digging Naruto's face into the ground.

A surprised Genma stood in shock as three shinobi were killing his team. With his senbon gone, he had run out of ideas until one popped into his head.

'Should I use the one technique I was never supposed to learn in the first place?' mentally wondered Genma while staring down his opponents.

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**End of Chapter 15 **

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	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: The Forbidden Move Part 1 **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Plain and simple. **

**A/N: Well, here comes a two parter. These next two chapters will show a new side of Genma, and will show how hard he kicks ass. **

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Genma stared at his opponents with his usual look on, not wanting to show his concern to further provoke the evil deeds of those he was up against. Ravir and Hasin taunted him while K continued to persuade Gannou to help him out.

'I have to use the technique. So far, all I've done is get my team into even ore trouble than needed with my useless attacks. Hell, I shouldn't even be considered a Jonin if this is the best I can do.'

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**Flashback no jutsu! **

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On a day when his parents were away on a mission, a young, twelve year old Genma snuck into his parent's room, wanting to have a sneak peek at their secret scrolls. He closed the door behind him and starting opening assorted drawers and searching different nooks and crannies. Though, his easily childish searching methods came to no avail. Genma flipped his hair out of his eyes and readjusted his headband to keep the hair up. While swishing a senbon, his father gave him, around in his mouth; the young Genma noticed a suspicious area on a wall next to his parents' closet.

"Whoa, maybe that's where they keep all of their scrolls. Hehe, I bet putting some chakra to it'll make something happen," announced Genma before placing his palm against the wall, enveloping it in a blue chakra, thus revealing a door.

Instantaneously, Genma nearly tore the door off of it's hinges and entered. To say the least, he was amazed at the amount of scrolls his parents had collected.

"Jackpot!" Genma yelled before browsing the selection.

As time passed, Genma began to sneak scrolls back to his small room to study them when he had down time away from missions with the rest of his team. Most, to all, of the techniques proved to be hard and nearly impossible to master, so, Genma picked out three of the strongest looking techniques and set out to master just that.

"Awesome, it's a three step jutsu involving a special senbon with certain markings on it. It says the senbon can extend to form a sword-like weapon which allows the jutsu to begin. This'll be good, I've heard of Senbon Blades but this sounds even better! Let's see, maybe my parents have one of these "special" senbon needles in their arsenal. There should be a high chance of at least one of my hunter nin parents having one."

While his parents were away or asleep, Genma rummaged through their gear and found what he was looking for hidden in a small compartment in his fathers gear pack.

"Wow, how oddly convenient," Genma input after spotting the exact senbon needed.

For the next three months, Genma kept away from his teammates Hayate and Yugao, even in missions. His constant shunning led him to mastering the first stage of his "ace in the hole" jutsu," the senbon extension. With hours and hours of chakra control training by himself, Genma was able to finally extend the point of the special senbon. The next step in his jutsu training was chakra manipulation training, for the jutsu required chakra to be sent to a certain part of the blade. For this training, Genma did most of his work near a small river east of his home. It was a better choice because of his affinity being water, allowing him to have an easier time while training.

After a full year of study and actually attempting to use his chakra to manipulate his surroundings, Genma had finally cracked the surface with his attack. He was now able to use water to his advantage and finally manipulate chakra with slight ease. This, alone, helped him persevere in the Chunin Exams the same year, allowing him the right of passage to a Chunin level ninja.

"Well, here it is, the moment of truth. Time to try the second step," Genma nervously said while standing to the left of the lake, senbon in hand.

Without another moments hesitation, Genma extended the blade with ease and finally began to push himself to manipulate his chakra unto his weapon. After moments of intense focus and concentration, his normal, blue, chakra converted to pure energy towards the upper part of his weapon.

"Hehe, this is awesome!" Genma excitedly shouted while moving his blade around before feeling a sharp pain in his arm.

He dropped the blade quickly and grasped his now mildly burned right arm. Shocked, Genma took out the scroll and began going over it until finding a formality in his new attack.

"When in use, the weapon can cause burns or cuts to appear on the users body due to the wear and tear on the body from chakra manipulation," Genma read from the scroll aloud.

Still wanting to master the final step of the jutsu, Genma treated his wounds with his medical kit and taped them. His next move was returning to his training, alone, in the forbidden forest. But over time, his training was limited and he never mastered the third and final step, especially after his promotion to Jonin.

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**End of the Flashback **

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'I guess it's time I give it a go. Let's just hope that this works out!' Genma decided Genma mentally.

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**End of Chapter 16 **


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: The Forbidden Move Part 2 **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto because Kishi-san won't let me. **

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It was eerily quiet on the battlefield. On one side, Genma held his ground while devising his next plan and on the other side, three thug ninja held three young leaf genin against their will.

"Hey Ravir, I say we kill the kids now. That dude doesn't seem to want to try to stop us," Hasin grimaced maniacally while holding a kunai to Sakura's throat.

"Agreed," Ravir responded before kneeing Naruto in the stomach and twisting his left arm.

"Stop," Genma began. "I'll fight you three. Just leave my team alone."

"Ah, it seems the hotshot is finally ready to die," K input before dropping Neji to the ground.

Gannou, who had been sitting against a rock the entire time, turned his focus to Genma.

'The kid needs a distraction. I've got a smoke bomb or two left in my pack. Maybe it's time I change sides,' Genma thought before reaching behind him and pulling out his last smoke bomb. "Hey Genma, here's your distraction!"

Gannou threw the smoke bomb right in front of Genma, making him hard to see in the eyes of his opponents. Genma reached behind his head and pulled something from his bandanna, which made his bandanna, headband included, fall to the ground. He had pulled out his special senbon, which had been keeping his bandanna tied.

"Senbon Extension," Genma yelled while elongating the senbon to it's appropriate length.

"Hey, K, I think I got him. He's right over there," Ravir pointed to a figure outlined in the smoke.

K tossed a few shuriken at the outlined figure, but to no avail. He then decided to charge right in and take out his opponent, though, this didn't really do anything for him. Meanwhile, Genma clenched his teeth while manipulating his chakra to the upper part of the blade, which he successfully completed.

'Okay, let's see, the third stage, I need to use the proper hand signs to allow my blade to be used to it's full extent,' Genma remembered quickly.

Slowly, Genma remembered each hand sign one by one and pieced them together before actually trying them. On his first try, the blade began to glow lighter and Genma felt a surge of power.

"Senbon Sword Final Stage!" Genma erupted before charging towards the first person he spotted.

His unlucky target was Hasin, with whom he sliced his energy sword through. Hasin collapsed after the sword withdrew from his stomach, leaving a huge hole in it. Genma winced in pain as his left arm and right leg began burning and cuts began opening fast too. He put the pain behind him for as long as possible while he advanced upon Ravir. Ravir began throwing paper bombs and shuriken at Genma to stop him, but Genma advanced too fast and took him out before leaping away as fast as possible to avoid the explosion.

"It seems I'm the only one left Genma. Can you beat me?" K asked while standing in front of Genma, who's bleeding had become worse as his burns grew in size.

"I'll do it. I will kill you. For my team," Genma heroically responded before dragging his sword in the ground while limping swords K.

"You lose," K simply said before quietly moving his fingers forward, sending blades of grass at Genma's back, each impaling him.

Genma's sword dropped and reverted to it's normal state as he himself hit the ground. K laughed at Genma before walking away, potion in hand.

"It's preposterous to think they even think they had a chance at even killing me," K observed while walking in the opposite direction.

Out of K's view was Gannou, the only other conscious person there. Gannou felt compelled to at least get the potion back. To up his good guy reputation of course. For the first time in a few hours, Gannou stood on his own two feet and took out what remaining wire he had left and attached a discarded shuriken to it's end.

"Now, I wonder if my toss is still accurate," Gannou said in his gruff voice while spinning the wire around. "Here we go. Hyah!" Gannou released the wire and watched it sail towards K.

"Huh? What's going on?" K looked behind him to find a long wire sailing the winds in his direction.

In a flash, the shuriken attached to the wire slashed right through K's hand, removing it completely. K screamed in pain but left his hand behind by rushing away into the distance, but before he went, he noticed Gannou standing straight up, watching him.

"Looks like that took care of him. Hehe, just enough to get the potion back," Gannou gladly announced.

Gannou tossed the severed hand away and found the vial of potion. He celebrated mentally before turning to his new good guy allies.

"Fuck. Hopefully none of them are dead yet," Gannou scratched the back of his head and ran over to them.

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**End of Chapter 17 **

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**A/N: Done! Again! Please Read and Review. **


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: Picking Up the Stragglers **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. **

**A/N: I'm going to start updating periodically now, because my first reviewer suggested I do so. Though, I do this because I believe this will give you enough time to catch up on the story or read it for the first time altogether. So, basically, to sum this up, my updating will slow down for a bit, but, with your help and reviews, the will pick right back up. **

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Gannou sighed while looking at the mess all around him. He didn't want to clean any of this up, but he knew that he was the only one that could. Slowly, he observed the battlefield and walked over to the charred and bloody Genma.

"Damn, he had it the worst, but that's nothing the potion can't fix," Gannou assured himself while unscrewing the lid.

He poured a single drop into Genma's mouth and walked away once signs of breathing returned to Genma. His next target was Neji, whom had been beaten into a pulp, so, he poured another single drop into Neji's open mouth. After moving Genma and Neji's bodies over to a better suited area, Gannou proceeded to find Naruto and Sakura, whom were both sprawled out in different spots near each other. Though, he didn't have to do anything to Naruto, because he had been breathing and showing movement with no injuries at all. It was nearly the same with Sakura, because the enemies didn't take her too seriously.

"They're all a bunch of lucky punks. They got off easy this time, but if K returns with more goons, there's no telling what could happen."

Over the next few hours, the expert in survival, Gannou, had bandaged up the rest of the group and had begun a fire. By now, he really thought his good guy reputation was on the rise. To pass the time, Gannou began devising new traps to add to his arsenal, but he stopped when he heard some rustling nearby. It turned out to be Naruto, whose injuries had left completely.

"G-Gannou! What happened here?" Naruto asked, wanting to know what the outcome of the battle was.

"It's good to see you're still as loud as ever, kid. Concerning the battle, you were beaten down easily, as well as your friends. I didn't exactly help either, but you need to thank Genma over there when he wakes up. He, by himself, took out nearly all of those thugs back there, but he faced serious injury."

"Y-you said nearly all of them. Did someone survive?" Naruto questioned Gannou while in awe about what Genma accomplished.

"Yeah, Genma was impaled before he got the chance to finish K off. That piece of shit nearly got away with the potion too, but I severed his hand before he even got the chance too."

"Wow, this is really crazy, but at least we got the potion back," Naruto grinned after inserting his comment.

"You need to get some rest, kid. Go find a place to sleep. You'll need it, because, if my calculations are correct, we could be setting off by tomorrow," Gannou told Naruto while slicing some wire.

"Got it, besides, I have a game of Mah Jong to play," Naruto said to Gannou right before searching for a nice place to sleep.

"I don't even want to know…" Gannou diverted his attention back to his traps.

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**The Next Day **

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The sun arose slowly, yet it's rays illuminated the land quickly. Even the slightest sign of daylight could wake of Gannou and this time was no exception. His belief being that the first to rise is always the strongest. He stood up right away and brought in the daylight but stopped when he heard a familiar voice right behind him.

"Hey Gannou, I see you're finally awake. It took you a while to wake up. I've been awake for a while now, looking for my headband," the familiar voice said.

"Huh? Who's there?" Gannou wondered while standing in place.

"Don't you recognize my voice, Gannou? It's me, Genma. My wounds have drastically increased, though, they still exist and can sting at times," Genma informed Gannou.

Gannou merely nodded in response, but was actually mentally scolding himself for not being the first to wake up. The next to wake up was Sakura, whose injuries had completely disappeared, because she hardly sustained any at all. She, just like Naruto, asked Gannou what happened and his response was just the same. To say the least, she was disappointed with herself. In mid afternoon, Neji awoke, still with multiple bruises.

He, unlike his teammates, kept quiet and asked no questions.

"It's nice to see that all three of you are awake now, but I'm more concerned with getting to the next location. Wherever that may be," Gannou let out, attempting to jumpstart the team with some kind of enthusiasm.

"I'm all up for it! It's getting boring just sitting here and moping around," Naruto screamed, surprising those, despite Gannou, around him.

"I can't exactly move very well, but with support, I can make it," Genma suddenly said, agreeing with Gannou's motive.

Neji and Sakura soon chimed in, both agreeing as well. To support Genma, Naruto and Neji held him up by both of his sides. Right before they left, Gannou put out the fire and stuck a kunai in a rock, to signify that they had been the ones that caused this destruction. Needless to say, he felt great pride in this. With Gannou finished doing whatever else he needed to, the five of them set off towards Konaha. After hours of Naruto's constant talking and nagging, they had made it through the area containing the ninja phobic citizens. By Sakura's calculations, they only needed about another day to make it back to Konaha. Naruto sighed at this.

"Damn it! I wanna get back to Konaha now! My arm's starting to hurt from carrying Genma this long," Naruto whined while still holding Genma up.

'After all of this and they still don't respect me enough to call me Genma-sensei,' Genma sweatdropped while thinking.

"Godamnit Naruto! All we've done is hear you whine this whole time and here you are doing the same exact thing again!" Sakura yelled excitedly as she walloped Naruto right across the face.

Naruto skidded across the ground many feet back. He held his head while rolling across the ground in pain.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow…," Naruto went on for minutes before wobbling up and rejoining the party.

"I hope you've learned your lesson, Naruto!" Sakura scolded Naruto before walking back up front, allowing Naruto the pleasure of once again helping Genma.

During the whole episode, someone, hidden in the forest surrounding the party, dressed in a cloak shadowing their face. This person reached it's hand to the tip of it's cloak hood and spoke.

"Orochimaru-sama, sir, I have located the potion. Shall I retrieve it now? Over," the person spoke into it's hidden radio.

"Yes, if what your last transmission said is correct, they are all weakened greatly. This is your chance to get me the potion, Kabuto. Over," Orochimaru complied over the radio system.

"Very well, sir. Over," Kabuto said over the system before turning his radio off.

Kabuto proceeded to jump out of the woods and landed directly in front of the traveling team.

"I'm getting really tired of this," Gannou sighed while staring at Kabuto.

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**A/N: You guys/gals know what needs to happen of you want to see more chapters, so, get to it! Yosh! **


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19: Kabuto vs. Three Kids, One Nearly Disabled Man, and a Man Old Enough to Qualify as Senile **

**Disclaimer: I owned Naruto…one time when I was dreaming, but I don't think that really counts as anything great. **

**A/N: Many kudos to you Arch Zell. Your ideas and very complementive (that's right, I made a new word to thank a reviewer!) reviews are very helpful. Keep it up. Also, I have made up a surname for Tenten's family that will be revealed soon. **

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"Hand over the potion or I will be forced to execute all of you," Kabuto gruffly said while standing in front of the gang.

"You know, this has to be the second or third time I've heard someone say that," Naruto comically stated.

"Very funny, kid. If I do decide to fight you all, you're the first to die."

"Yay, I feel so happy," Naruto celebrated sarcastically.

"That's it, you're dead!" Kabuto shouted before leaping into the air and taking out his chakra scalpel.

Naruto removed his self from his position as right hoister for Genma and drew his sword from it's sheath and met it's blade with the scalpel. Kabuto proceeded to follow with multiple slashes at Naruto's chest. Sakura and Gannou, the only others able to fight, decided to help the moment Naruto and Kabuto started fighting.

"Girl, use whatever attacks you have while I put together something," Gannou ordered before taking out a paper bomb and a half broken paint brush from his pocket.

"Will do, sir," Sakura immediately responded while going over what she should use.

Kabuto continued slashing away with his chakra scalpel and eventually hit him in his right arm, tearing through multiple muscle fibers in it, rendering it useless. After landing his successful hit, Kabuto followed up with a quick punch to Naruto's left cheek sending him flying into the ground. As Kabuto prepared his next assault, Sakura yelled to get his attention and began throwing shuriken at him randomly, hoping to do ome damage.

"Little girl, you are a pathetic excuse for a ninja. I don't even feel abided to have to kill you," Kabuto mocked while holding back a laugh.

"Hey, dumbass, turn around," Gannou called out, catching Kabuto's attention.

Right as Kabuto turned around, Gannou tossed a paper bomb right at his feet. A sizzling sound emitted from the bomb just as it landed.

"I tampered with it's seals. Have fun with what new punch it packs," Gannou told Kabuto while hurriedly taking Sakura by the arm and rushing to a safe distance with the others.

"Huh? Wait, what?" Kabuto managed to say right before the paper bomb went off, resulting in a bright flash of light and a high pitched shriek.

Both effects temporarily blinded and deafened Kabuto, allowing everyone the chance to escape. Gannou picked up an unconscious Naruto and told Sakura to support Genma's shoulder. In the hour it took Kabuto to regain his senses, the party had made it all the way to the forest directly outside of Konaha. Kabuto returned to his master empty handed.

"Just a bit more, everyone, and then we'll be in Konaha. Then, this hell of a mission will be finished," Genma managed to get out while still being supported.

"That's easier said than done," Gannou grumbled while still carrying Naruto, whose arm hang limp while being held.

After a matter of minutes, and various shortcuts well known to Genma, they all caught their first glimpse of the gates to Konahagakure. The ninja attending the gate at the time happened to be Genma's best friend, Raido, which allowed the entire party to enter immediately. Raido ordered the Chunin nin around him to escort them all to the Hokage's Office right away. Inside of the office, Sarutobi was talking to Fukumi about ways to improve Konaha's defenses in any way possible until the door burst open with Raido leading the way in, Sakura, Neji, Genma, Gannou, and the unconscious Naruto following.

"Now what do we have here?" Fukumi wondered aloud while diverting his attention to the incoming people.

"Well I'll be, Fukumi Ishigami. How long has it been? Thirty years?" Gannou asked in delight.

"Yeah, it has been a while, but may I inquire as to why you're here?"

"I'm sorry to interrupt but how exactly do you two know each other?" Genma questioned while sitting in a chair that Neji and Sakura helped him into.

"We're old friends. Both blacksmiths here in Konaha, but he was given the chance to leave the village to become the head Blacksmith in Tonbogakure because he was asked to by the current leader and he escaped the village soon after. . I haven't seen him since then," Fukumi said, hoping to shed some light on the matter at hand.

"Yep, and I even became the leader of the village, until you guys attacked us. But hey, I don't dwell on the past, so, what do you say Fukumi. Want to make amends?" Gannou asked; hand out to possibly shake Fukumi's.

"Never, you traitor," Fukumi threw right back in Gannou's face.

Before the feud could escalate anymore, the Hokage demanded the two "children" stop, allowing them to get to the oral mission report. Almost immediately afterward, as if on cue, Genma began to speak.

"Overall, this was a very rocky mission, though successful. The initial journey had absolutely no hitches besides a small pit stop in a village piled full of cowards. Hours after that, we discovered the main path to Tonbogakure's ruins. Soon after, we made it there…" Genma began the report but was stopped in the middle of it by the Hokage.

"I expect the rest of the report on paper and in here as soon as you've fully recovered from your wounds. Raido, I want you and the two guards outside of my door to escort these five to the nearest hospital to treat their wounds."

"I will have the report in as soon as possible, Hokage-sama," Genma assured his leader before being supported up and brought with the others to the hospital.

Over the next few hours, the five were brought to the hospital and hospitalized. Gannou and Sakura were cleared immediately, but instead of going wherever he wanted, Gannou was brought back to the Hokage to be given a verdict on whether or not he was to be punished for he was a traitor and assisted in the Tonbo vs. Konaha War from years ago. Concerning Neji, Naruto, and Genma, the three of them were put in intensive care. Naruto's muscle tears were coming along nicely with Kyuubi healing them and the medics working on them too. Genma had been coming along nicely as well with his wounds, which were being treated easily, most likely because of the potions added boost. Neji healed the fastest out of the three but was still kept in the hospital to recover from mild chakra exhaustion.

The potion and it's contents had been handed over to the Head Medic Nin of the village. He, personally, poured some drops into Itachi, Sasuke, and Gaara's mouths. Then, he brought it back with him to his personal study to try and find anything else about it.

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**Three Days Later **

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Once again, Itachi awoke from a slumber, but this time with full function of his body and his energy back. Though, this time he did not wake up to nothing. Sitting by his bedside was his wife to be, Hana.

"Hey Hana, how's it going?" Itachi cheesily said while moving his messy hair out of his eyes.

Hana looked at him for a few moments before slapping him across the face, sending him out of his bed and onto the floor.

"That was for nearly getting yourself killed out there. What were you thinking?! Are you trying to get out of fathering this child and marrying me or are you usually this stupid?" Hana began nagging at Itachi, whom was currently laying on the ground clutching his cheek while staring in fear at his fiancé.

In another part of the hospital, Gaara opened his eyes for the first time in days, but he did not get out. For some reason, he enjoyed sleeping in the bed he was in and didn't think twice about going back to sleep, because he knew that Shukaku couldn't threaten him for a while.

"Good old sleep. This is more fun than unmerciful killing," Gaara mumbled while laying his head on a pillow and clutching his teddy bear.

Sasuke was in the middle of a nightmare involving his curse mark when he felt his body fully kick in. He forced himself awake while he had a Chidori charged in his dream. It carried into the real world and blew through his bed and the equipment next to his bed. This jumpstarted Sasuke, especially after collapsing to the floor as his bed did.

"Heh, it's about time I woke up. Now, where are my clothes, so, I can ditch this place."

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**End of Chapter 19 and The Get The Fen Potion Arc! Yay! **

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**A/N: Now, I'm currently still fumbling around with ideas over here, but an idea crossed my mind right when the ball dropped (by the way: Happy 2-0-0-8) and this idea happens to be a crossover arc with Yu Yu Hakusho. It'd be nice if I got some feedback on this. I want to see what the general opinion on this is. **


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20: Invitation to The Dark Tournament **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or another great anime, Yu Yu Hakusho. **

**A/N: That's right, I'm going with the arc and it will be a training arc as well. Also, super kudos to Arch Zell once again for reviewing once again. On another note, to all of my readers, reviewers, I ask you to refer the story to whomever you can if possible, so I can get even more inspiration. On with the story. **

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**Two Weeks Later at the Team 0 Training Grounds **

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Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara sat on a log while Itachi went over battle formations and signs to indicate different situations. By the time they reached sign number four, Naruto had hidden himself behind the log and nodded off to sleep. Though Naruto made it quite obvious, Itachi paid no heed and continued until Sasuke raised his hand as if in class.

"Sasuke, did you have something to say?" Itachi asked, ten minutes after Sasuke initially raised his hand.

"Yeah Itachi, can we take a break from this and spar? You've put Naruto over here to sleep," Sasuke suggested while shaking Naruto, to awake him.

"You have a point, Sasuke. Then I guess we can do some sparring to liven things up. Sasuke, you go up against Gaara, and the winner will spar against Naruto. Remember, try not to put each other back in the hospital," Itachi quickly changed from classroom teacher to a sensei.

"Well then, Sasuke, are you ready?" Gaara asked while lifting himself up from the log.

"You know it," Sasuke replied back, with what looked like a slight grin on his face.

Both teammates met in the middle of the training ground and shook hands. They then stepped back and moved their body positions to those of their fighting styles.

"I'll begin," Sasuke silently said right before running as fast as he could towards Gaara, throwing multiple punches.

Gaara blocked each punch with his sand, but caught the last with his sand and swung Sasuke back. Sasuke, rolled across the ground, but he picked himself up and brushed dust off his sleeve. He did the proper hand signs and put his left hand to his mouth, thus letting out a barrage of flames that hit Gaara's sand as well, but hardening it and making it un removable from it's current position. Right after letting out the flame attack, Sasuke took out his katana and rushed forward and slashed through the wall of hardened sand, breaking it and sending it in Gaara's eyes, allowing Sasuke the chance to hit Gaara. When, Sasuke's sword made contact with Gaara's body, the tip snapped because of Gaara's defense. Before Gaara could retaliate, Itachi stopped the sparring match.

"Very well done, boys, but now I think we should give Naruto a chance to fight."

Sasuke panted heavily before responding, "Will do, Itachi."

Sasuke and Gaara separated and walked back over to the log, but before anything else could happen, someone interrupted them. That someone turned out to be Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, who had been searching for Naruto.

"Ah, I see Team 0 is taking advantage of this beautiful day by sparring," Sarutobi chuckled after taking out his pipe.

"Hokage-sama, what brings you here today?" Itachi humbly asked while the Hokage stood in his presence.

"Actually, I have come to see Naruto. I need to speak with him in my office for a little while. Is that a problem?"

"No, Hokage-sama, I'll get him up myself," Itachi replied to the Hokage.

Itachi picked up Naruto and began to shake him, attempting to wake him up. Itachi began shouting while trying to wake up the slumbering Ramen junkie.

"Naruto, wake up! It was bad enough you fell asleep during training, but even worse you did during a visit by the Hokage," Itachi yelled comically while shaking Naruto. Everyone sweat dropped at this.

Eventually, Naruto came to and dropped out of Itachi's grip, dizzy. Naruto stumbled and wobbled for a few minutes before shaking once and looking at the Hokage.

"Hey old man, what's up?" Naruto inquired while sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"I see you still haven't dropped that nickname, Naruto," Sarutobi once again chuckled before getting down to business. "Naruto, there's someone in my office that asks for your presence. His name is Koenma."

"I've never heard of him, but why not visit him. Who knows, he may be a long lost uncle or something," Naruto asserted before running away towards the Hokage Building, a grin plastered all over his face.

Eventually, Naruto made it to the village square and spotted the office window to the Hokage Building. With a few more jumps, Naruto flipped through the window and landed head first on the desk. He rolled onto the floor and then picked himself up.

"I could've sworn that desk wasn't there the last time I came in," Naruto conveyed while in slight agony.

"Losing your magic, eh, Naruto?" Sarutobi sarcastically asked once he entered the room.

"Nope, it's just one miss cue, old man. Now, why am I here again?"

"You had a visitor a little while ago. I'm not sure where he went, Naruto."

"And here I was getting my hopes up," Naruto asserted, wondering where his "visitor" went.

"Is it really that hard to see me! I'm not that short," chimed in an oddly childish voice.

"Huh, who said that?" Naruto buzzed until spotting a standing toddler on the ground wearing a purple hat with a kanji.

"Thank you for finally noticing I existed, Uzumaki Naruto. I am Koenma of Spirit Wor-"

Koenma began, but was stopped in the middle of his speech when Naruto crouched down and poked him in the fore head.

"How do you know my name?" Naruto simply asked Koenma.

"I know a lot of things, Naruto. I'm from Spirit World, the boundary between Heaven and Hell, thus making me a spiritual being with much knowledge."

"All of this from a baby?" Naruto didn't believe any of this was true.

"Listen, Naruto, this is all very true. A lot of my Spirit World assistants have told me about you. You have a very unique spiritual wave length and that has led me to asking you if you'd like to be the fifth member to a team of mine. So, in sum, I'm inviting you to partake in the Dark Tournament."

'He's probably just trying to get me to buy some kind of cheap weapon knock off or something. I'll just go with him for fun,' Naruto thought, going over his options.

"Naruto, have you made your choice yet?" Sarutobi asked the young blonde, breaking a short silence.

Naruto looked down to Koenma and nodded yes, signaling that he'd go. Koenma, celebrated shortly but regained his composure and crossed his arms.

"Then we'll leave now," Koenma said, holding his hand out.

"I'll see you later, old man. Be back soon," Naruto spoke for the last time to Sarutobi for a very long time as he took hold of Koenma's small hand and disappearing instantly, leaving a stunned Sarutobi.

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**End of Chapter 20 **

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**A/N: Here it is, the beginning of what I intend to be a kick butt arc. Please read, review, and get the word out this story exists! **


	22. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21: Journey to the Spirit World **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any shape or form. Only Masashi Kishimoto does. **

**A/N: In response to Arch Zell's review, Naruto will return to Konaha one day. As I mentioned, this is also a training arc. He's going to sharpen his skills a lot and then he'll be able to return. **

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Naruto opened his eyes to find himself flying over desolate land with Koenma floating in front.

"Where are we?" Naruto excitedly inquisitioned while continuing to fly against his own will.

"This, Naruto, is the Spirit World. Down there are the Plains of No Return. Some vicious monsters live down there. They are some of the escapees of hell," Koenma explained about the place they were in.

"B-but why are we flying?" the very excited Naruto questioned even farther.

"I'm Koenma. If I can fly, I can make others fly."

"Makes enough sense to me," Naruto shortly said.

Koenma felt his pacifier nearly slip out of his mouth, causing him to take the focus off of keeping Naruto afloat. Naruto felt the tingle of flying disappear from his system and he began to plummet to the land beneath him. Before Koenma could try to get Naruto back afloat, Naruto had already left his view.

"Oh no! What am I going to do?" Koenma worried wondered while floating.

Naruto hit the ground hard and began to panic about as to how he'll get to wherever Koenma's base is. He looked around at the desolate bone yard around him before walking north. Just minutes into his walk, Naruto froze in place when a dark and menacing voice breathed down his neck.

"Just where do you think you're going, pip squeak?"

"I was just taking a nice stroll to the bathroom. Now please excuse me," Naruto whimpered, trying to get away as fast as possible.

"Nice try kid, but that's a huge lie and I don't like those. For that, I'll smash you," the demon dementedly accused Naruto.

Naruto began running away as fast as possible, but the demon, which was ten times his size, swung his hand out, smashing Naruto into the ground. It then picked up Naruto and began to crush him between his two palms.

**"Kit, I'll lend you spirit energy. Take out that low class demon and I'll help you get to where you need to be." **

'I-It's nice to hear you Kyuubi. That energy would be greatly appreciated r-right now.'

Wit the added boost of spirit energy, Naruto channeled some into his right leg and kicked a huge hole through the demon's hand, letting him go. Naruto took this chance to once again take off, but this time west, the direction Kyuubi ordered him to go in.

**"I recognize this place. After escaping hell not to long ago, I traveled this plain until I found a way to the human world. If my memory serves me right, if you go north from here for two to three more miles, you'll be at the gates to Koenma's Base of Operations." **

'So you paid a visit to Koenma too, didn't you?' Naruto asked Kyuubi mentally while still running.

"**Yes, I was sent here after three ancient lords from thousands of years ago defeated me, the Demon King. I was sent here and Koenma sentenced me to the last circle of hell. I escaped soon before my punishment had nearly completed and I landed myself here in these plains, which I scoured for another ten years before finding the gate to the human world. It's a really long story after that." **

'Wow, you must've been pretty dangerous bac-' Naruto began until stopping when a black river came in sight.

"**Kit, that is the River Styx. I had to ride across it in my half demon form. Do not touch it or you will face eternal damnation." **

'That's nice to know. So, what do I do? Wait here?'

Before Kyuubi could answer, someone dressed in a pink robe flew in on an oar. When she came closer, Naruto was able to see she was a beautiful woman with blue hair dressed in a pink kimono. She landed right in front of Naruto and began staring at him.

"Um, lady, what are you doing?" Naruto pondered what the woman was doing until she responded.

"That's no way to speak to the grim reaper. I have a question of my own. What is a fully alive human doing in spirit world?" the self proclaimed grim reaper asked Naruto.

"I was here with Koenma until he accidentally took his focus off of me and I fell down here, but I seem to have found something. By the way, what's your name and how could you be the grim reaper? You're way too pretty."

"My name is Botan and I'm flattered at the fact that you think I'm pretty. If you're really telling the truth then I think I can give you a ride to Koenma's palace.

Trusting Botan, Naruto complied and grabbed on the end of Botan's oar and she took off at a high speed. Naruto shouted while Botan maneuvered through the sky, but he held on and closed his eyes for the rest of the ride. Eventually, he felt the force of the winds blowing on him cease and when he opened his eyes, he found himself at the gates to Koenma's palace.

"We're here!" Botan enthusiastically yelled while Naruto fell over on his side.

"Did you have to go so fast?" Naruto wanted to know while he tried pushing his messy hair down.

Botan merely giggled and led him inside of the palace. Koenma, who was currently sucking on his pacifier nonstop and panicking after accidentally letting Naruto fall, jumped up out of surprise when he saw Botan and Naruto enter.

"Look who I found, Koenma, sir," Botan stated with Naruto in front of her.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, Botan. You don't know how much I owe you," Koenma exclaimed while nearly kissing Botan's feet.

"She didn't do everything, toddler. I was the one who had to escape a demon and randomly find the River Styx."

Koenma compromised himself and walk a few steps over to Naruto and said good job before going back over to his desk and staring right at Naruto.

"You are very far behind, skill wise, your future four teammates for the Dark Tournament, Hiei, Kurama, Urameshi Yusuke, Kuwabara Kazuma, and I am even informed there will be an alternate. Currently, three are trading off as training partners, one is privately training, and we've no information on the alternate," Koenma informed Naruto while George the Blue Ogre, Koenma's assistant, stamped his work for him.

"So, who am I training with?" Naruto wondered.

"You, Naruto, are going to train with Urameshi Yusuke and his master, Genkai. Your job is to learn to unlock your potential with what time you have until the tournament. I'll be able to arrange Botan to take you there tomorrow, but for tonight, you need to rest up."

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Konaha

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Itachi entered the Hokage's Office, intent on finding out what happened to Naruto. Right when he entered, Sarutobi greeted him and told him to sit down.

"I bet you're wondering where Naruto went, right?"

"Actually, yes, yes I am. So you know where he is?" Itachi questioned Sarutobi.

"Not to worry, Itachi. Naruto is just on a training trip with a young man named Koenma. I believe he's participating in a tournament because three tickets were left on my desk addressed to you, Sasuke, and Gaara. It's to something called the Dark Tournament and there are instructions on it," Sarutobi told Itachi, pretty much answering all of Itachi's questions and more.

"The instructions say to meet at the east gate of Konaha for pickup," Itachi read off of the envelope.

"Will you be attending, Itachi?" Sarutobi calmly asked while smoking his pipe.

"Why not, it seems fun."

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**End of Chapter 21 **

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**A/N: Here's the third update for today, New Years Day. It's my beginning of 2008 present to my readers. **

**Preview: Next up comes three chapters detailing Naruto's training with Genkai and Yusuke. Trust me; it is going to be very brutal. **


	23. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22: Genkai's Brutal Training **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Yu Yu Hakusho. **

**A/N: First of all, I'd like to say thank you to Hishman for giving the kind of review I usually want to see. First off, some of these chapters were written a while back and left dormant on my computer. That was back when my writing wasn't at it's current level. I didn't understand the concept of character development very well. When the Dark Tournament ends, I plan on editing chapters 2-6 to further explain certain parts of the plot. Sakura's involvement in the story will increase as she becomes older. It will be the same with nearly all of Konaha's genin. I plan on setting apart quite a few chapters, one detailing each characters training. On a side note, anything related to relationships will most definitely pick up when the characters advance in age. I mean, who wants to read about twelve year olds making out? **

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Naruto opened his eyes and looked around him to find Koenma stamping papers and George the Blue Ogre bantering with him. He then noticed he was sleeping on a couch positioned against the wall furthest from Koenma's desk. Eventually, Naruto pulled himself off of the couch and fell onto the floor.

"Ah, it seems sleeping beauty has finally decided to wake up," Koenma comically remarked while stamping.

"Very funny, pooh bear," Naruto back sassed while still sprawled across the floor.

"You should get up, Naruto. Botan should be here to take you to Genkai's dojo in, oh, five minutes."

"I hate you, toddler," Naruto said. "You just couldn't let me have more time to sleep, could you?"

"Nope," Koenma simply replied.

Right after five minutes passed, just as Koenma said, the doors to the palace opened with Botan at the door. Naruto stumbled over to her, rubbed his eyes, and said he was ready to go. Botan nodded and led him outside. Quickly, before leaving, Naruto did a short prayer and grabbed onto Botan's oar.

"Here we go!" Botan yelled with her usual enthusiasm before taking off at full speed once again.

"Just close your eyes, Naruto, and it'll be over before you know it," Naruto told himself while flying through the air.

After a short amount of time, Botan passed through the barrier and entered the Human World. She rode through the clouds and eventually plummeted through the sky downwards, towards a mountain top. When they came closer, Naruto noticed a dojo standing alone at the top of the mountain. As they made it just over the dojo area, Botan shook the oar, causing Naruto to let go.

"Sorry Naruto, but this is where you have to get off!" Botan yelled before disappearing in the clouds above.

Naruto soared through the air and after plummeting for a few minutes, landed in a lake right behind the dojo. Right by the lake was Genkai, who was in the middle of training her pupil Yusuke until Naruto hit the lake. Right after hitting the lake, Naruto came up almost instantly, but was forced to get out of the lake as fast as possible when piranhas began biting at his body.

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One Hour Later

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Over the time of one hour, Naruto had explained all about his presence to Genkai and after thinking for a while, she decided having a second person to beat up in brutal training would be fun. Yusuke and Naruto talked between each other briefly over that small period of time and slowly began bragging between each other. After everyone was finished talking, Genkai ordered Yusuke and Naruto to report to the dojo, which they both immediately did.

"In every person, spirit energy resides, but it has to be awakened somehow. For Yusuke over here, he had to die first for his energy to come out of a very long hibernation. Speaking of you Yusuke, give me one hundred and ten laps around the dojo."

Yusuke grumbled but stood up and went outside shortly after he was commanded to. When he left, Genkai walked over to Naruto and examined him before coming to a certain conclusion.

"The only way to get you to utilize your untapped spirit energy is for you to drain yourself of all your chakra," Genkai examined distinctly, but as met with annoying whines by Naruto.

"But without chakra, I'll die," Naruto whined while also pouting at Genkai.

"Shut the hell up, kid. I've got that part planned out. Just follow me," Genkai said.

Genkai led Naruto to a closet in the farthest away corner of her dojo and opened it, revealing multiple weapons and other assorted valuables. She picked up a set of four weights and threw them at Naruto for him to catch. Naruto prepared to catch them and prepared for the worst, because he thought the weights would weight more than the dojo, but they weighed no more than that of a feather.

"Are you serious, Genkai-sensei? These are weightless!" Naruto yelled while dangling the weights from his hands.

"Just put them on," Genkai ordered while tapping her foot.

"Fine," Naruto grumbled before sitting and putting on each weight.

Minutes later, Naruto stood with each weight on each of his limbs. He wondered what their purpose was for.

"Good, with those weights on, your chakra will slowly drain during training, thus increasing their weight and increasing the chance of you releasing your hibernating spiritual energy," Genkai explained bluntly.

"I-I have to get these things off. I can't die!" Naruto panicked and even resorted to biting his nails.

"Tough luck, boy, but those won't come off unless I do it myself."

"Great."

Genkai ordered Naruto outside and when outside, she pointed to the lake he originally fell in. Standing in a row across the lake were super thin poles that Naruto could hardly make out while cross examining the lake. Yusuke walked over, panting, and stood next to Genkai as she joined Naruto by the lake training area.

"So you've picked that training exercise for him on his first day here, old lady? Isnt that pretty harsh for him?" Yusuke asked while looking at Genkai.

"He is basically worthless right now. If he is fighting in that tournament, his potential needs to be unlocked," Genkai merely told Yusuke. "I will explain the exercise to him and while I do, report to the cliffs behind my dojo for your next exercise."

"Fine Genkai, I'll be off now."

When Yusuke walked off, Genkai approached Naruto and looked over her lake. She then turned to Naruto.

"For this exercise, you must make your way over to the other side of the lake by hopping each of those small poles. It's plain and simple."

Left by himself, Naruto forced chakra to his feet and began to hop each pole one by one until, on the fourth pole, he fell off do to being unbalanced. He landed in the freezing cold water and began swimming back to shore as fast as possible to save himself from getting eaten. After four hours time, Naruto's personal best had been twenty-four poles, two away from the end of the lake. On his intended final run, a worn out Naruto hopped each pole at an alarmingly slow rate due to the increasing weight of his training weights. Determined to finish, Naruto made it to the twenty-fourth pole again and kept his balance while keeping his eyes fixed on the next pole.

"Just two more poles. I can do this," Naruto said, determined.

With another small jump, he landed directly on the next pole, nearly snapping it. He felt the pole bend and right as it collapsed under Naruto's increased weight, Naruto dove for the final pole, managing to grab onto the top of it. There Naruto was, hanging from a snapping pole on an old lady's compound. Quickly he closed his eyes and spun himself around the pole before letting go and landing, back first, on the cold, hard ground. The devices that he strapped on himself, by orders of Genkai, were as heavy as ever and kept him weighed down.

"I see you've finally finished," Genkai spoke, breaking the short silence.

"What exactly was that exercise for?" Naruto managed to get out.

"It was an easy way for me to get you to drain yourself of your chakra, an easy way for you to do my work for me while I train my pupil."

"W-what?!" Naruto yelled, outraged at this act of laziness. "What am I going to do now?"

"You're going to stand up and face me in a fight," Genkai responded while stretching.

"You never run out of energy, old lady," Yusuke chimed in after being eerily quiet for quite a few minutes.

Naruto slowly, but surely, picked himself off of the ground and stood directly in place as Genkai charged him at an incredible speed. She began to unleash a multitude of kicks and punches to Naruto, beating him senseless, but Naruto still kept his ground.

'Kyuubi, any help here?'

"**I'm sorry kit, but you must go at this on your own. I cannot help you." **

Genkai continued to punch and kick Naruto at an alarming speed, still confident bating him to a near death state would unleash his spirit energy.

'I can do this. All I have to do is believe in myself. I can't die,' Naruto mentally pledged to himself. 'I WILL NOT DIE!'

Suddenly, an orange aura enveloped Naruto and his spiritual pressure grew in size, causing the weights on him to unlock themselves and fall off. He felt a change in his power and looked at Genkai right before jumping back and telling her to stop.

"Genkai-sensei, have I unlocked my spirit energy?" Naruto asked while the orange aura continued to bounce off of his body.

"I believe so. You even unlocked the weights. Now all you have to do is manipulate it in whatever way you can," Genkai further told Naruto.

"Yeah, like a weapon. I can do a spirit gun and my friend can do a spirit sword. It's something like that," Yusuke let Naruto know why lying on the ground.

"Um, I'm not sure what mine is. Let me think…"

"**Kit, I've examined your spirit wave length. It is nearly the same as that Urameshi kid's, but my energy alters it slightly." **

"Here goes nothing then. Demon Gun!" Naruto screamed while emitting a moderately sized ball of orange spirit energy from his right index finger.

"Hey! That kid copied me!" Yusuke managed to shout while watching Naruto.

"You're an idiot Yusuke. This is very rare but possible. Both of your wavelengths are nearly the same, thus allowing the both of you the ability to manipulate your spirit energy in the form of a gun. It is as simple as that."

Yusuke and Naruto bickered between each other like children for a few minutes until Genkai ordered them to quit, which they did.

"You both have one more task. So, don't get your hopes up for bed time anytime soon."

"What?! You've got to be kidding me, Grandma, it's dark out. We deserve some kind of rest!" Yusuke screamed in great annoyance.

"Yeah, I agree!" Naruto too yelled.

"I'm going to ignore your complaints and just get on with it. You two have the rest of the night, and a few of the hours in the morning, to complete my obstacle course that I've set up," Genkai said, eyes closed and arms crossed. "The course is set up in three different locations. The first of the locations in my obstacle course is the Dark Mountain, which is right behind the cliffs behind my dojo. If you make it out of there, you'll find yourself in my forest full of demons. If you two manage to get through there, you'll find my temple. In there are two rings that are guarded by traps. Bring those to me by eleven fifty-nine tomorrow morning. That is all," Genkai informed Naruto and Yusuke.

"That was a mouthful," Yusuke spat. "You ready Naruto?"

"Yeah, sure," Naruto shortly responded.

After taking in Genkai's information, Yusuke and Naruto both took off towards the cliffs, leaving Genkai at the lake. Eventually, the dynamic duo of loudmouths reached the cliffs

"You can't be serious. Cliffs?" Naruto pouted.

"Heh, I have an idea Naruto. Are you able to fire anymore demon spirit bullets?" Yusuke asked.

"**You've got nine total shots a day, one for each of my tails. Basically, you can use your Demon Gun eight more times today, but don't be reckless. There could be side effects." **

"Um, yeah Yusuke, I think I do. Why do you ask?"

"Naruto, we're going to blow past the cliffs! You in?" Yusuke turned to Naruto while pointing at the cliffs.

Grinning, Naruto complied and pointed his right index finger right at the cliffs while Yusuke did the same.

"Spirit Gun!"

"Demon Gun!"

Yusuke's bigger ball of spirit energy fused with Naruto's ball of demon and spirit energy to create an even larger ball of mixed energy which blew through the cliffs, creating a passageway for them to walk through. They both laughed for a minute and ran through the passage to the mountain. When they reached the mountain, Naruto looked at it, trying to find any kind of stairwell or maybe even an elevator.

"Looks like we'll have to climb it, blowing it up doesn't seem like a possibility. You ready to climb, Naruto?"

"As ready as ever Yusuke," Naruto grinned while replying.

"Then let's go!" Yusuke commanded while he and Naruto began to run, preparing to jump.

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**George the Blue Ogre: Hello everyone. I'm George and Esthar47 has hired me to be the new narrator for this story. Enough about me, let's get on with next chapters preview. **

**Preview: With only a short amount of time to do so, can Yusuke and the newest arrival Naruto get to Genkai's Temple and secure the rings? Or will they fail? Find out on the next chapter of The Venture of Four! **

**End of Chapter 22 **


	24. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23: Retrieving the Rings **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Yu Yu Hakusho. **

**A/N: Again, thank you Hishman for supplying yet another insightful review. **

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Both Yusuke and Naruto took off from the ground and grabbed on to the nearest rock to them. They began scaling the mountain at a slow rate, bent on making it to the top of the mountain to further advance in their quest. Yusuke was having no trouble at all with the trial, because he had worked with Genkai on this before and he was well built, muscle-wise. Naruto, on the other hand, was not experienced at this in any way possible. As Yusuke climbed higher and higher, Naruto began having trouble pulling up himself with his upper body strength.

"Wait, that's it!" Naruto excitedly shouted.

"What's it?" Yusuke asked while holding on to one niche in the mountain side.

'Kyuubi, has any of my chakra restored yet?'

"**Actually, yes, some of it has restored." **

'Thanks, that's all I needed to know.'

Naruto gathered what chakra he had left and sent it to his feet. He then began running up the mountain side, passing Yusuke while doing so.

"Later Yusuke!" Naruto stuck his tongue out while passing.

"Wait! That's cheap! Just wait until I get to the top, Naruto!"

"I'll be waiting," Naruto said while nearing the top.

Several exhausting minutes later, Yusuke, who had broken into a serious sweat, only had several feet left to climb. His motivation was getting to the top in as fast as possible, only giving Naruto a short time to gloat. He backed up his reason for motivation with hard physical labor. With one last flip, Yusuke landed on both of his feet atop of the mountain, only to find a sleeping Naruto.

"You've got to be kidding me," Yusuke sarcastically said while sweat dropping. "Wake up!"

"Huh, oh, hey Yusuke, took you long enough to get up here," Naruto chuckled while grinning.

Yusuke told Naruto to get up and the sleepy blonde complied by standing up and stretching.

"If you look down this side of the mountain, there's a smooth path leading down it right over there. Let's just try and run down the mountain side," Yusuke shortly suggested while getting in a track runners starting position.

"I'm with you," Naruto agreed.

The first to take off was Yusuke who immediately took off running. He leaped off when he neared the bottom and ended up crashing into the ground right in front of the forest. Naruto did the exact same thing.

"If memory serves me right, this is the entrance I took when I had to run a race through the forest. Just follow me and we should make it out quickly," Yusuke confidently said.

"Okay, if you say so," Naruto cautiously responded.

When they first entered the forest, an odd feeling overtook Naruto. He feared the worst by the time they made it to a fork in the road. After hours of walking, they stopped in an open field full of overgrown weeds and exotic plants.

"Oh, visitors, how fun this will be," a screechy voice snickered.

"Naruto, you head that, right?"

"Yeah, I heard it. It must be one of the demons Genkai warned us about. Stay on your guard."

When they least suspected anything to happen, a tall, ripped demon with red skin ran into view and punched Yusuke right in the jaw before tripping Naruto. Pissed off, Yusuke told Naruto to sit back and relax while he took care of this. When the demon began another rush towards Yusuke, Yusuke stood ready and as the demon prepared a punch, Yusuke stuck his hand out quickly, grabbing the demons throat.

"Keep your eyes on this one, Naruto. It'll blow your mind. Shotgun!" Yusuke screamed while his other hand let out a flurry of balls made of spirit energy, killing the demon.

"You've got to tell me how to do that," Naruto demanded while in complete awe.

"It's pretty good, eh?"

"Good? That's great!" Naruto excitedly complimented.

The two students of Genkai continued forward after taking care of the demon. Luckily, Yusuke's remembered directions were still accurate, because they had both exited the forest shortly after beating the weak demon.

"Naruto, I can see the sun rising. We need to hurry," Yusuke observed while running up a hill blocking the view of the nearby area.

"Damn it, we need to hurry."

"Look, over there, it's the temple," Yusuke pointed at a small temple in the distance.

"You know what, Yusuke, let's race to the temple. That'd be fun!" Naruto came up with a fun way to hurriedly get to the temple.

"Okay then, on my mark then."

Right after they had both got into their running positions, Yusuke yelled go into the sky and they both took off as fast as possible. They stayed neck and neck for the duration of the race, but, in the end, Yusuke won after Naruto tripped over a rock on the ground. Yusuke held back a chuckle and helped Naruto get up. There they stood, right at the bottom of the stairs to the temple. Knowing they didn't have much time left to complete their ordered training, Yusuke and Naruto ran up the stairs as fast as possible and reached the doors.

"Look, at the end of the room, there are those two rings, I think. Let's get over there as fast as possible," Naruto nudged Sasuke while pointing across the room.

"Let's do this. We need to complete that old hag's task."

Yusuke and Naruto used what remaining energy they had to get across the room to the rings and the both of them nearly collapsed when they reached them if it hadn't of been for the table with the rings on it to support them.

"What're we going to do, Yusuke, we're both out of energy and we haven't completed our task?" Naruto wondered while struggling to stand up.

"May Genkai have mercy on our souls," Yusuke quietly whispered, causing Naruto to start laughing.

"Are you two going to keep bickering and laughing or are you actually going to get serious?" Genkai questioned as she entered her own temple. "I knew you two wouldn't complete the task, so, I took it upon myself to sleep until dawn and get over here."

Surprised, Naruto and Yusuke stood straight up and stared at Genkai, wondering how the hell she got up here so fast. These thoughts ceased when Genkai snapped at them.

"Put those rings on, rugrats. They should prove to help you somewhat. In other words, you'll go from little girls to big girls in no time. Just place them on your right index fingers. Over time, the rings will do three things, increase your total spirit energy capacity, strengthen your attacks, and help manipulate your spirit energy. You'll both need these boosts."

"Great, but, for now, and I say this for the both of us, we're going to take a short nap," Yusuke yawned before falling asleep on the temple floor, Naruto doing the same thing just moments later.

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**Two Months Later **

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Three others fighters for Team Urameshi stood on an island near one of it's main docks with hundreds of demons, waiting for the remaining members of their team. Their names were Hiei, Kuwabara, and Kurama. Kuwabara began complaining again about how late Yusuke and the other two people were and how they wouldn't be able to board the boat. Kurama continued to assure him that they were coming. Just before Kuwabara could get louder, a familiar voice told him to shut the hell up.

"Hey, it's Urameshi! But who's the shrimp with the blonde hair and the midget wrapped in toilet paper?" Kuwabara asked whoever was around him.

"I see you're still a huge dumbass Kuwabara. Those two are Naruto, our fifth member, and someone who met up with us on our way here. He calls himself the Masked Fighter," Yusuke told Kuwabara.

Before anyone could object to the presence of the other two members or make snide comments about them, the captain of the ship they were to board called for the fighters to board the boat. Naruto, whose hair had now reached shoulder length, moved his hair out of his eyes and walked towards the boat, Yusuke standing to his right and the rest of the team was following. By the time the boat took off, Yusuke and Naruto had found places on the boat to sit against and sleep while Kurama, Hiei, the Masked Fighter, and Kuwabara stood near them, waiting for the boat to get to the dock on Hanging Neck Island. But, suddenly, the boat ceased in movement and the captain approached the passengers.

"Yar, maties, this'd be the preliminaries. The last team standing gets off this godforsaken ship and gets to fight in the tournament, yar!"

"This seems like fun, Kurama, let's dispose of these disgraces for demons," Hiei calmly spoke.

One complete massacre later, Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, and the Masked Fighter stood victorious over the demons. All while Yusuke and Naruto were asleep against railing.

"Next stop, Hanging Neck Island," the Captain shouted before returning to his captain's wheel.

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**Narrator: With Naruto and Yusuke fast asleep, will the team manage to get them awake before there next big battle? Find out on the next chapter of The Venture of Four. **

**End of Chapter 23 **


	25. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24: First Impressions and Settling In **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto **

**A/N: Um, thank you Tobigoodboy3 for reviewing each chapter. Also, this'll be a pretty short chapter. **

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Right after the Captain had announced that the ship was headed for Hanging Neck Island, a sword sliced through his chest, sending him over the railing and onto the deck of the ship. Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama, and the Masked Fighter looked in shock to find one last demon with a very long sword standing, licking the blood off of his sword. The noise resulting from the Captain hitting the deck caused Naruto to open his eyes instantly. He stood up and walked in front of the rest of his team.

"Don't worry, I'll fight this," Naruto yawned while standing wobbly due to still being slightly tired.

"Huh, you're going to fight? No thanks, I'm going to take care of him," Kuwabara egotistically let Naruto know.

"Actually, Kuwabara let that kid fight. I saw some of his training and I taught him some basic Kenjutsu," Hiei let Kuwabara know.

"Fine…" Kuwabara pouted and sat down.

Naruto rubbed his eyes and suddenly disappeared in thin air, surprising those around him except for the Masked Fighter. The demon looked around frantically, wanting to know where Naruto was. In the near blink of an eye, Naruto reappeared behind the demon and poked his shoulder.

"Hey demon, are your eyes bad? I'm sure the rest of my team caught that whole disappearing move but you didn't. That makes you very lame in my eyes."

"Go to hell, boy," the demon grumbled while slicing his sword downwards at Naruto's head.

Naruto moved to the left instantly and kicked the enemy's blade into the ship's deck, "Any other tricks up your sleeve, demon?"

"Just one, my fist!" the demon shouted for the last time before having his head swiftly removed from its body.

"That was quick," Naruto whispered before looking at his teammates. Kuwabara had a look of shock on his face, Hiei had a smirk on his face, Kurama smirked as well, Yusuke was snoring, and the Masked Fighter was exactly the same.

"Well done, Naruto, but your movements were easily visible. You need to improve," Hiei examined.

"Thanks Hiei, I'll be sure to work on it," Naruto conveyed back before being turned around by Kuwabara.

"Okay Mister Superstrong, since you're so good, why don't you move the boat to the island while you're at it," Kuwabara said in his usual retarded tone of voice.

"There's no need, look over there at the captain," Naruto smiled while pointing to the captain who was standing up while holding his wound.

"Yar, that demons missed me vitals, I'll be fine. The boat'll just be a wee bit late to the island."

Reassured, the team sat back and rested lightly while the boat ride to the island continued its course. Eventually, the boat docked in it's proper docking zone, right outside of the registration building. Kuwabara picked up Yusuke and joined the rest of Team Urameshi as they left the boat.

"Well then, let's go get signed up," Kuwabara said in his usual loudmouth attitude.

"Ass, we're the guests this year. That means we don't have to register. Do you need me to repeat that Kuwabara?" Hiei toyed with Kuwabara shortly.

"Oh, I'm going to kick your puny little ass, shrimp," Kuwabara, as steamed as ever, threatened.

"Man, Kuwabara, do you have to scream that loud? You woke me up," Yusuke grumpily stated while getting off of Kuwabara's back.

After another short outing of pointless jabber, Team Urameshi finally began to walk the island in search of their hotel.

"Look, over there, the Godoru Hotel. I believe that is the hotel we were told to stay in by the officials back at the pickup station," Kurama believed while standing in front of the group.

"Then let's go," Yusuke ordered while pointing ahead, though he was stopped when an unknown force tripped he, Naruto, and Kuwabara while the others dodged.

"You guys need to be better than that if you hope to beat Team Rokuyokai, especially me, Rinku," Rinku, a young boy, pointed out.

"Yes, watch yourselves or you may just end up deceased," Zeru, another member added.

"We don't need special visits from our opponents. Leave now, we're not in the mood," Yusuke sternly retorted back.

"Well put Yusuke," Naruto said while grinning like he usually does.

"Fine then, we're off. Come on, Rinku."

As Zeru and Rinku distanced themselves farther and father, they began talking about each member of Team Urameshi they saw. Team Urameshi entered the hotel to find themselves in the middle of a party for class A business associates of the Black Market members who assembled the tournament to begin with. The team entered the nearest elevator, barely avoiding the sudden chatter about them in the lobby. The elevator stopped on floor twenty-two and Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Naruto went to room two thousand two hundred and three while the Masked Fighter went to the room next to it.

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ **

On another boat to Hanging Neck Island, one fit for human attendees, Itachi, Sasuke, and Gaara stood on different places of the main deck, while the boat was in motion. All on three of their minds was one thing, how good has Naruto become?

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**George: After a short meeting with their opponents, team Urameshi seems unfazed by Team Rokuyokai's attempt at intimidation. Will that stay the same when they begin fighting? Find out next chapter in The Venture of Four. **

**End of Chapter 24 **


	26. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25: Naruto vs. Imajin and Gao **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Yu Yu Hakusho. **

**A/N: In this chapter, Naruto will be fighting the two characters that never got to fight for Team Rokuyokai in the series, Imajin and Gao. Their abilities will be completely custom made. Concerning Sasuke and Gaara, they've been able to put a huge focus on their training and their motivation solely being that Naruto could be getting stronger than them and better. Both Sasuke and Gaara have gotten a lot better, but they wont be fighting for a little while. About the masked fighter, this person is the teams alternate that met up with Naruto and Yusuke on their hike to the boat pick up area. **

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ **

Yusuke felt like there was an earthquake around him as he was shaken over an over. He opened his eyes to find Kuwabara shouting and Naruto rubbing his eyes. When he decided to tune in Kuwabara's annoyingly loud voice, he heard two words, late and tournament. This gave him the motivation to go ahead and get up.

"Hiei, Kurama, and that Masked Fighter are probably already there, Yusuke. Let's get there as fast as possible. Want to race?" Naruto ended up challenging Yusuke.

"I'm up for anything, Naruto. Ready, set, go!" Yusuke took off with Naruto, leaving Kuwabara by himself.

"Guys? Guys! Wait up!" Kuwabara yelled while hustling out of the room.

Quickly, Naruto and Yusuke sped through the halls and down the flights of stairs they found accessible. They rocketed through the lobby and continued foot racing outside all the way to the stadium while Kuwabara kept up somewhat farther behind, yelling. With one final burst per racer, they made it to the stadium main gates at the same time, thus resulting in a tie. The both of them snuck past the security and walked into the stadium, only to meet up with the rest of their team. Kuwabara entered shortly after.

"They're asking for our team. I suggest we go now," Hiei told the team before they each leaped over the railing and onto the turf around the ring on the other side, away from Team Rokuyokai.

The announcer gave her usual introduction speech before speaking of blood and gore to get the demon crowd going. Her speech eventually led into a short background behind both teams and she then told each team to pick whoever was to go first.

"I'll start. If lucky, I'll obliterate the entire team, saving us some trouble," Hiei half bragged and half suggested.

"No, I'll start, that Zeru guy's been keeping his eye on you this entire time. You should save your energy and fight him," Naruto turned away and stepped onto the ring.

"Don't worry Naruto, if you die, I'll be here to take your place!" Yusuke yelled to Naruto, laughing.

Naruto laughed right back and held back the rest of it when he approached the center of the ring. The crowd around him began laughing at Naruto being just a pint size kid, but he blocked it out. Sitting not too far away from Naruto were Itachi, Sasuke, and Gaara, who were all astounded to see Naruto standing in the ring.

"Okay, it seems Team Rokuyokai has sent in Imajin and Team Urameshi has sent in Naruto. Let the match begin!" the announcer called before watching the fight intently.

"Like, man, I'm going to kill you with my hair, because it's my, like, power, man," Imajin, the junkie-like person, said.

"This is going to suck," Naruto whispered under his breath before disappearing.

"Like, dude, I can, like, totally see you," Imajin stated, pushing his demonic energy to his hair.

While Naruto tried to find an opportunity to attack, Imajin bent over and his hair extended and turned into a needle-like form and launched at Naruto. Naruto unsheathed Kazemougi from it's sheath on his back and prepared to slice the hair in two, but, instead, his sword was knocked from his hand by the apparently indestructible hair.

'If Naruto keeps this up, he'll be murdered in a few minutes,' Sasuke observed while watching the fight.

"Like, dude, I think I'll totally kill you now, man," Imajin said before transforming into his actual demon appearance, which was just a change of skin color and a boost in his energy.

"Great, I'm going to have to try twice as hard if I'm going to beat him," Naruto continued to talk to himself. "But I don't think I need to take my Spirit Ring off. With strategy, I've got him."

"Now, man, take this. Demon Hair Super Strike!" Imajin screamed in a now demonically charged voice.

The now very sharp hair spun around while being launched towards Naruto and successfully impaled Naruto through his right side and kept going, nailing Naruto against the outer wall. Though, Naruto suddenly disappeared in a poof of smoke, confusing the crowd. While Imajin looked around frantically to find his opponent, the real Naruto reappeared behind him and punched him as hard as possible in the back, sending him out of the ring.

"It looks like Imajin is down and out of the ring, so, I'll start the count. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, ei-" the announcer was stopped when Imajin stood up and went back into the ring.

"Whoa, man, that was sweet, but I've still got something left."

'He acts like he's unfazed by my last attack. I guess that means I need to try a lot harder than I am.'

"Like, dude, when I was on that ground, I planned my, like, next attack. Look down," Imajin told Naruto, arms crossed.

"It seems like Imajin has planned a move that will bring a gruesome death to Naruto," the announcer announce, garnering a loud, cheering, response from the crowd, excluding Itachi, Sasuke, and Gaara.

In a flash, in many different spots on the ring, very sharp hair launched through the ground and into the air, hitting Naruto and nailing him, sending him flying onto the ground. The announcer began counting, but Naruto stood up, bleeding slightly and entered the ring before she reached ten. He did the proper hand signs and yelled.

"Multi Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto shouted before multiplying by ten and spreading out around the whole ring. "Eat this, Imajin! Demon Gun!"

Over ten medium sized balls of demon and spirit energy launched at Imajin, all hitting him and wiping him out. A sizzling Imajin lay unconscious outside of the ring, thus cueing the announcer to start counting. When she reached ten, she announced the match over and Team Urameshi the winner. Naruto sat down, happy the match was over and then picked himself up to walk back over to his teammates, but he was stopped when an oversized member of Team Rokuyokai stepped into the ring and called Naruto over.

"Puny boy, I want to fight you to avenge Imajin," Gao said in an even more moronic tone than Kuwabara.

"If you insist," Naruto coolly responded.

"Oh come on, he gets to fight twice? That's unfair," Kuwabara spat while stomping his feet.

"Oh shut up, Kuwabara. That demon is just all muscle and nothing to back it up. It'd be a waste fighting him," Yusuke kicked Kuwabara while explaining the situation.

"Yusuke is telling the truth, Kuwabara. That demon must've just been picked up at a pick up some to fill an empty spot on the team," Kurama examined.

The announcer told both fighters to start and Gao immediately began to run at Naruto, intent on kicking him and breaking his spine in the process, but Naruto easily dodged and ran over to the part of the ring where his sword was lying and picked it up. Gao jogged right back over to Naruto and charged a punch that he then threw when Naruto came into sight, but Naruto crouched down and stabbed his sword forward, impaling Gao through the stomach. Just as the demon crowd began to boo and Team Urameshi began to slightly celebrate, Gao sent a right hook at Naruto, hitting him and knocking him hard into the concrete ring.

"Stabbing me is useless unless you hit me in my only weak place," Gao laughed while punching Naruto senseless in the stomach.

"Hey, ref, stop the match. He's going to die," Yusuke attempted to get the announcers attention but she ignored him.

While on the verge of loosing consciousness, Naruto used his right middle finger to slip off his Spirit Ring on his right index finger, resulting in Naruto spirit energy to rise. He secretly charged a large quantity of spirit energy in his right index finger and pointed it at Gao.

"Demon Cannon…" Naruto quietly whispered before going white in the eyes.

"Huh, what's this?" Gao wondered as Naruto mumbled until a huge shot of demon and spirit energy went right through his chest, shattering all of his ribs and exploding all of his vitals, including his weak point, his appendix.

Yusuke hopped onto the arena and told the announcer to hurry up and call the match over, which she did when she noticed Gao had a huge hole in his stomach. Kuwabara and Yusuke lifted Naruto up and set him down away from the ring, allowing him time to rest, because he needed it.

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ **

**Narrator: With two Rokuyokai members down for the count, can Team Urameshi pull through and win? And what is Sasuke doing with a charged Chidori? Find out on the next chapter of The Venture of Four. **

**End of Chapter 25**


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Rinku vs

**Chapter 26: The Start of the Semi-Finals **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto **

**-- **

Naruto groggily up in his assigned hospital room, basking in the light that flowed through the window. He stopped as he noticed Sasuke standing by the door out.

"Hey Sasuke, what're you doing in here?" Naruto asked, confused.

"I got bored watching your team fight matches you've not been in. Hell, you've even bored Itachi and Gaara to the point where they wanted to return to Konaha."

"Wait a minute; you said that I've missed matches. What's gone on?" Naruto, now fully awake leaped out of bed.

"Your team just made it to the semi-finals, without your help. As a matter of fact, they are scheduled to fight in three hours. Maybe, just maybe, you could go join them and prove your worth," Sasuke finished and tossed Naruto his clothes and walked out.

Hurriedly, Naruto threw on his clothes and left the hospital, angry at himself and his meager powers.

'Kyuubi, if firing a shot like that can take that much out of me, is it even worth being here?' Naruto asked his inner demon.

**"Yes, I must admit, you beat yourself up with that attack, but as you've been asleep, I've been straining your body to it's maximum point to increase your spiritual power and overall strength." **

Naruto stopped walking as he heard the news. 'Are you serious? You've put the rest of my teammates in jeopardy just to increase my strength? Why'

**"It was all for the right cause. Go, for now you must join your companions, it is with them that what I have done will show that it was for the best." **

Unable to get through to Kyuubi any longer, Naruto began to walk again until Sasuke leaped in front of him, a piece of paper in hand. "You might want to try going in the opposite direction. They've got a new stadium over there just for the semi-finals."

"Damn, well, I'll see you later then," Naruto said quickly before leaping into the trees and hopping branches towards the new stadium.

Naruto leaped through the woods at an incredibly fast rate, better than he had ever done anywhere else, causing him to wonder what Kyuubi had exactly done to him. Though, he shrugged it off and entered the much larger stadium slowly, taking his time to look around and see if he could spot his competition. Eventually he passed through the team member entry, entering the team lounge, finding his entire opposition and three of his own teammates.

"Wow, it took you that long to decide to help us again? How oh so very kind of you," Kuwabara spat at Naruto, making it clear to everybody in the room that he was obviously pissed off.

"I'm sorry Kuwabara. My tactics were horrible and they bested me, sending me out of commission for these past battles," Naruto attempted to apologize.

"I can see that you're lying to us, Naruto. Though, I can speak for all of us when we I say that we just need your help," Kurama conveyed to his teammate, his eyes closed.

Before Naruto could even respond, both teams were called to the arena. Naruto followed his team slowly, heading up the back, a smug grimace covering the majority of his face. He slumped against the wall sourly as he noticed Hiei taking a stand in the arena to further inflate his already enormous ego. Tired, Naruto sat down on the ground and observed Hiei's matches, surprised at some of the talent the other team had. Before he knew it, Kurama had transformed into a demon fox.

"Holy shinobi," Naruto said, stunned as Kurama let off astonishing amounts of spiritual energy, vaporizing half of the crowd in the east wing.

"I've been wondering when Kurama would ever become what he once was, again. This is a sight to behold," Hiei quietly uttered, directing his words to the now un-sour Naruto.

"I can relate," Naruto said, not thinking before saying.

"What did you say?" Hiei turned his attention to Naruto, suddenly interested at what he had just said.

"It's nothing, Hiei, just my experiences in my home village," Naruto menally crossed his fingers, hoping that would do it for Hiei for an explanation.

"Whatever, I have better things to do than question you," Hiei finished by turning away and walking towards Kurama.

Now interested in watching the battles, Naruto fumed as Kuwabara took the stage to try and make himself seem like the macho man…again. Holding back a chuckle, Naruto watched as Kuwabara humiliated himself by being sent into the Cape of no Return belonging to the Team Uraotogi leader Shishiwakamaru. Wanting to try his hand at fighting without injury, Naruto leaped onto the arena floor and he listened to the various comments around him.

"I remember seeing you blow through a man's stomach in one shot days ago. This might be interesting," Shishi briefly spoke, his sly, yet egotistical, grin stretch on his face.

"Boo, throw the kid out. He has no business here!" various audience members shouted.

"Alright, let's do this," Naruto said while cracking his knuckles.

Right away, Shishi used the cape to try and engulf Naruto, though Naruto dodged and started accumulating demon energy in his right hand, launching it as Shishi landed after his attack. The attack made contact to the arena floor, tearing a chunk off. Shishi began a charge at Naruto, intent on killing him. Feeling his attacks were meaningless, Naruto took a deep breath and opened his eyes to find everything around him the decorations of a sewer tunnel.

'You need something, Kyuubi? I was in the middle of a fight.'

"**I understand you, kit, but there is a power that I feel I should reveal to you right now. It is risky though I feel you're ready for it." **

'You know I hate anything risky, Kyuubi. The last time I tried "risky" I got the shit beat out of me.'

Without an answer, Naruto felt an electric shock tear down his spine as time returned to normal. Shishi leaped and sent his cape down, hitting Naruto, but just as he made contact, red energy flung him back in a massive wave.

**End of Chapter **

**A/N: Here's your first chapter in three months. Don't know why I delayed, but at least I brought it back. If you'd like to see what Naruto's transformation looks like, check out my profile. **


	28. Chapter 27

Chapter 27:

**Chapter 27: **

**A/N: I'd show you a picture of what I envisioned a demon Naruto, which is similar to the tail forms but sculpted by spiritual and demon energy, to look like, but I'm not sure if I can post links in my profile. **

**-- **

Smoke billowed in the arena after a mysterious wave of demon energy whacked Shishiwakamaru nearly out of the stadium. Nearly everyone observing the match had an expression consisting of either shock or curiosity. Eventually, the smoke cleared, leaving nothing but a small crater.

The ring announcer, Juri, began to speak as everything returned to what it was. "As it seems Naruto has been sent to a very far away location, I now announce Shishiwakamaru the wi-" Koto was cut off as Shishi was knocked down again and a figure appeared in the middle of the ring.

"Hold that thought announcer girl. This party isn't over just yet," Naruto spoke in a voice that sounded like a fusion of his and Kyuubi's.

In the middle of the arena, Naruto stood, his appearance considerably altered. His fingernails had extended, eyes turned a blood red, hair spiked in the fashion of a fox with parts of it extending below his waist, and his whisker marks had taken to looking like that of a fox. Shishiwakamaru felt a new shipment of fear overwhelm him as he stared at his opponent.

"It seems he's pulled out his trump card. I'm interested as to how he's going to use it," Hiei told Kurama, who had been observing the match as well.

"As am I, Hiei. I believe him to be eerily similar to me," Kurama added in.

Back in the ring, Naruto decided to resume the fight by getting on all fours and launching himself at Shishi, tackling him to the ground and punching him squarely in the face multiple times before tossing him in the air and blasting him with a more powerful demon gun. Slowly, Shishi stood back up and drew his sword, pointing it in Naruto's direction.

"This, Naruto, is the Banshee Shriek. With it, I can extract souls and inflict devastatingly painful blows. Prepare for death," Shishi finished by slicing wildly at Naruto.

Unable to keep up with Shishi, Naruto was hit all over his chest and arms, though he took the chance to trick his opponent. Fooling Shishi, Naruto fell to the ground and waited for Shishi to approach. Just as he predicted, Shishiwakamaru brought his sword above Naruto's head and he snapped his eyes open.

"Watch out Shishi, you might just get your ass blown off," Naruto grinned as he launched an orb of demon energy at Shishi, hitting him in the gut and sending him rolling across the floor of the ring.

Dusting off his slightly torn shirt, Naruto walked over to Hiei and Kurama, but still remained in the ring. "I'd say that just about wraps that up, eh?"

"I have to admit, you fought quite nicely," Kurama spoke in his usually calm tone. "You've earned your win."

Juri slowly crept towards Naruto and soon spoke. "Um, Naruto, just in case you haven't noticed, you've won the match. You can get off the ring now, so I can announce your team the winners."

"Oh, sure, whatever," Naruto replied leaping off the ring and landing next to Hiei and Kurama.

As soon as Naruto had hit the ground, a voice yelled across the arena. "You three, four if you count that other guy, have not won. Prepare for the wrath of Suzuki!"

The old man named Onji disappeared and became a clown who called himself Suzuki. Hiei, Kurama, and Naruto prepared to attack but Suzuki was hurled out of the air. Standing next to him as he landed was the seemingly taxed Genkai, who kicked Suzuki into the air, eventually kicking him repeatedly into a nearby wall.

"I hate clowns," Genkai spat. "You may carry on, announcer girl."

"Um, thanks mysterious woman. As I was saying earlier, Team Urameshi is the winner!" Juri finished by joining Koto in the announcers booth to talk.

Team Urameshi took their leave, eventually meeting Kuwabara, Keiko, Shizuru, and Botan in the main corridor out.

"Hey guys! Please don't tell me we lost!" Kuwabara yelled, obviously curious if he screwed things up or not.

"Everything is fine Kuwabara. We've advanced to the final round," Kurama reassured Kuwabara.

As the rest of them talked, Naruto followed the lead of Hiei and Genkai and left the corridor to the outside world, intent on returning to the team hotel room and taking a long nap…and worrying about training later. Just as he neared the main road to the hotel, Naruto collapsed onto his knees, a thin line of demon energy surrounding him and returning him to normal, turning his features to normal.

"Dang, I think my demon form also has the power of constipation. I need a bathroom!" Naruto yelled into the air, storming into the hotel.

--

**End of Chapter 27 **

**A/N: I just want to go ahead and say that the Dark Tournament Interlude has only a short time left. After that, I have another storyline planned. Though, I won't spoil it just yet. **


	29. Chapter 28

Chapter 28: Training Day

**Chapter 28: Training Day **

**A/N: Ah, yes, another training chapter. Though, in this chapter, you will be reintroduced to some things…and people. **

--

Morning rays of sunshine weaved their way through the closed blinds covering the central window of Team Urameshi's hotel room. Lying in the corner of the dark room was the youngest team member, Naruto Uzumaki, who had been asleep for the majority of the night and morning. It wasn't until mid-afternoon that he cracked open his eyes.

Yawning, Naruto stood up and rolled his eyes at the fact that everyone had already left to train or observe another match. "Maybe I should do some training too. Fighting Team Toguro doesn't sound like an easy thing."

After progressing through his morning routine faster than usual, Naruto made his way down the stairway to the main lobby, which had become vacant due to the many gamblers and rich associates that had left after their teams had lost. Now uninterested in the empty lobby, Naruto opened the double doors leading out and walked across the barren land towards the seaside. Arriving in a short time, Naruto immediately sent himself into Kyuubi's lair to converse with his residing inner demon.

"Kyuubi, I have questions and I want answers, now!" Naruto bellowed deep into the heart of Kyuubi's cage.

Awakened, Kyuubi approached Naruto as best as possible. **"Yes, Kit?" **

"What was that form that I had accessed yesterday? It was unreal. I felt a lot more power than usual and it felt as if I had become a demon fox myself."

**"I know, I know. That is not a good thing. You've now got even keener fox senses. I advise you do not overuse this any longer. Anymore power abuse and you will die, as well as me." **

"Does this mean I can no longer use any of your power?" Naruto asked, hating the fact that there could be a limit on his growing power.

**"The answer to that question is yes and no. You will be able to my powers from time to time, but never again at the level you've used in recent times." **

As he opened his mouth to answer, Naruto opened his eyes in the outside world. He cursed at Kyuubi before standing up and thinking about how to prepare himself for the forthcoming battle.

"Okay, so I can't use Kyuubi's power at all. I guess that means I need to rely upon my skills as a ninja. Wait, what am I saying? I am a ninja, not a demon warrior. It's time I show I am one," Naruto announced to the area around him.

"It's about time I heard you say that. I was worried about you for a while, Naruto. Welcome back to the shinobi way," Sasuke dropped out of the trees above Naruto after speaking.

"Oh, hey Sasuke, since you're here, do you want to train? I need all the help I can get."

"That's easily noticeable," Sasuke simply put it, tossing three kunai at Naruto, though all three of them missing.

Dodging most of Sasuke's early attacks, Naruto felt like he had a good chance tomorrow. "I think I may just have a shot tomorrow, Sasuke."

"I think you're getting a little bit cocky, Naruto. Think about it, you've relied on spirit energy for months now. What techniques do you still remember?" Sasuke paused the spar to speak to his comrade.

"Well, I know all my basics. Then there are my three main groups. I've never known a thing about genjutsu, my taijutsu is average, I know a few things about kenjutsu, and I've forgotten most of my ninjutsu techniques. I've become the anti-ninja. This sucks," Naruto fell back on his behind and rubbed his temples, mumbling.

"I don't know what to tell you, Naruto," Sasuke picked his three kunai out of the ground and shrugged.

"You might not but I do, Sasuke," a familiar voice said.

Naruto looked around and eventually noticed Itachi and Gaara walking towards he and Sasuke. "Hey guys. I thought the both of you went back to Konaha."

"We did for a short time," Gaara responded in a very quiet manner.

"Yes, that is true, though it was only for a short period of time. The Hokage needed help for a little while. We were able to get tickets to return for the finals," Itachi finished the explanation.

"That's good to know, but it still doesn't help me. I've got to fight tomorrow and I've got no strategy," Naruto continued to hold his head in his hands.

"I thought about that as I was in Konaha and I got these," Itachi finished by tossing Naruto _Kazemougi _and his ninja tools. "Think about it Naruto, you're a great ninja all by yourself, don't let anyone else tell you otherwise."

Over the next few hours, Team 0 discussed battle plans, strategies, and went over what the each of them saw of the Team Toguro members. Eventually, as night came, they made their way back towards the only hotel on the island. Once they arrived, all four of them sepearated.

"Good luck, Naruto. We will be cheering you on," Itachi bid farewell to Naruto and walked off into the night.

After leaving his friends, Naruto entered the hotel, ready to get some rest for tomorrow.


	30. Chapter 29

Chapter 29: The Final Matches of the Dark Tournament Begin

**Chapter 29: The Final Matches of the Dark Tournament Begin! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and never will. **

**A/N: This is part one of the final two chapters of the Dark Tournament interlude. I hope you like it. **

**-- **

Standing tall in the eastern most part of the island that had been given the title of host to the Dark Tournament festivities was a stadium that had merely hours before being packed with tourists and fighters alike. Not a sound outside of the forest could be heard except for the light snoring of a boy. Any nearby squirrel or tree living animal could see that a blond haired boy in full clothing was sleeping on the top ledge of the deluxe stadium. As he was sleeping Naruto rolled awkwardly off the ledge and landed on the ring in the very epicenter of the open top arena.

Slowly, and groggily, Naruto pulled himself to his feet and rubbed his hazy eyes. "Well, this is a little earlier than expected, but I guess I can take advantage of this time."

For the next few minutes, Naruto did a few stretches and raided the team lounge inside for food. After enjoying some, oh, six packs of miso ramen, Naruto left the lounge and walked through the rows of seats in the various bleachers, thinking of what exercises to do. Eventually, Rock Lee came to Naruto's mind and he remembered the training that he had been doing prior to the end of the Chunin Exams. For the next few hours, Naruto ran a few laps around the stadium, climbed the walls using chakra, practiced kunai throwing, and practiced using _Kazemougi. _

"The sunrise is hours away. I think I might just get some sleep in the team lounge. Yeah, sleep," Naruto walked at a fast pace to the lounge, falling asleep as soon as he came in contact with a couch.

--

Three Hours Later

--

A throbbing pain overcame Naruto as he slept, just enough to wake him up. Standing above him was a very angry Kuwabara, who had brought him up by his shirt.

"Wake up, punk! I swear, you're worse than Urameshi!" Kuwabara bellowed at an ear splitting sound.

"Five more minutes…please," Naruto continued to go in and out of sleep, causing Kuwabara to go ahead and drag him over to the arena floor.

Not able to drag the weight effectively, Kuwabara gritted his teeth at the top of the stairway going down to the center grounds and launched Naruto. Now awake, Naruto felt the cool breeze against his face and enjoyed it before opening his eyes and yelling. Not too far away from the rest of his team, Naruto landed and skidded across the ground, soon finding the will to get up.

"It's all good, guys. So, who fights first?" Naruto hid the fact that a serious case of rug burn now plagued his entire black side.

"Well if it isn't the resident wimp," Yusuke shifted his attention to Naruto and drew a sly grin on his face.

"Yeah, yeah, just wait until you catch a glimpse of me fighting," Naruto countered before facing the announcers, who had began to talk.

"Are all of you demons in the audience ready for an all out gore fest?" Koto began, asking the crowd a question she knew they would answer with much vigor.

"Oh yeah, today Team Toguro fights Team Urameshi. This one is sure to excite," Juri finished talking quickly and let Koto excite everyone even more.

Abruptly, Naruto shouted and interrupted Koto. "Sorry to interrupt, but they only have four members. You know, two plus two, two times two, cuatro, whichever way you want to put it."

"The kid does have a point, Koto. I'll go talk to Team Toguro," Juri brushed her hair aside and hurried over to the mentioned team. "Hey, guys. As that kid brought up, you've only got four team members. Five is the minimum."

"We've got a fifth member. He's our team leader, and manager, Sakyo," Toguro said in an intimidating tone, easily scaring away Juri.

"As it seems, Team Toguro has a fifth member, Sakyo. Without further ado, I Koto call Kurama and Karasu to the ring. The both of you may start when ready," Koto said while sitting behind her announcer table.

As told, the two mentioned fighters entered the ring and gave each other blank stares, taking their time to start the fight. Over the course of around twenty minutes, Kurama had transformed, Karasu had nearly blown everyone up, and the match had continued to be a roller coaster. Naruto watched the match in awe, amazed. He blinked once and as he opened his eyes, Kurama was crawling to the center of the ring and Karasu had become a beautiful plant.

"Um, everybody, according to the committee, Kurama has lost by an earlier ring out. Technically, Karasu, the plant, has won the match," Juri announced, pissing off Team Urameshi and giving the crowd a reason to cheer.

Things took a turn for the better as Hiei nearly killed Bui, winning and tearing apart the ring, prompting an hour delay until Toguro brought the old ring over and put it in place of the old one. This allowed Kuwabara and the older Toguro to fight. In a matter of minutes, the match had ended, an injured Kuwabara pulling out the win by crushing the older Toguro.

"Okay everybody, it's time for the fight of the d-" Koto was cut off when Toguro began to speak.

"I don't want to fight just Urameshi," Toguro said before pointing at Naruto. "The both of them, are mine to fight."


	31. Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Toguro Say What

**Chapter 30: Toguro Say What? **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Not even a penny. Yep, it's all Kishi-san's. **

**-- **

The stadium had gone quiet. Toguro's sudden announcement had flabbergasted most and made all the others curious. A smug, yet very serious grin stretched across Toguro's face as he tossed away his shirt and sunglasses, ready to begin the fight. As stubborn as ever, both Koto and Juri remembered the exact print inside of the tournament's official rule book and they both broke the increasing silence cooperatively.

"Toguro, as stated in the rule book, you may not fight two other fighters at the same time," both Juri and Koto announced as if they had a telepathic link.

"Hm, who wrote that?" Toguro turned his attention to the duel announcers and began a slow walk in that direction.

"It is hand written and mass printed by the committee of the Dark Tournament," responded Juri, who had fallen backwards and was crawling away from Toguro feverishly.

Toguro smiled manically, flexing his muscles as he brought them upward. "The committee? Oh, they must've been the ones I murdered."

"No way," input Naruto on the other side of the stadium, feeling like a fly against the hippo that is Toguro.

As the crowd began to return to whispering, Toguro stopped as he was finally in front of Koto and Juri. "It seems you two are the last of the committee's minions. Goodbye."

Most watched while others turned away as Toguro picked up both Juri and Koto, throwing them into a far away wall, most likely killing them. With them out of the way, George Saotome took the reigns as head announcer and Toguro quickly entered the ring, Naruto and Yusuke doing the same. Finally the time for the match had come.

"Okay everybody; here it is, the grand finale, I hope, to the Dark Tournament. Fighters, you may begin now!" George bellowed into his microphone.

To start the match, Yusuke ran in, punching Toguro hard in the face, giving Naruto the okay to kick him into the air, which he pulled off. Both Naruto and Yusuke then leaped into the air, launching Toguro back into the ground. Intent on keeping Toguro grounded, Yusuke charged a Spirit Shotgun and launched it into the ground, hitting where Toguro had landed dead on. Following up was Naruto with a huge, precise blow of hurricane force wind courtesy of _Kazemougi_. Both Yusuke and Naruto landed, panting, waiting, watching for Toguro.

"Do you think he's dead?" Yusuke asked Naruto while looking at the capacious crater in the epicenter of the arena.

"Shut up, Yusuke. That's a huge cliché. For all we know, Toguro could pop out of the ground right now!" Naruto shouted, very nervous.

Suddenly, a cacophonous noise echoed around the entire arena, causing assorted whispers to accumulate around, most including questions about what was going on. Just as the noise had gone off, a figure blew through the ring's center, dropping in front of Yusuke and Naruto.

"I was only at thirty percent boys. Now I've pumped it up to seventy, can you keep up?" Toguro said, gripping Naruto by the hair, as well as Yusuke, and throwing the both of them across the ring.

First to get up, Yusuke charged a spirit gun that landed directly on Toguro, shattering the ring around him. Naruto tossed in three explosive tags, creating an even bigger explosion. Even though the explosion had been huge, Toguro still came out unscathed.

"If that's the best you've both got, then I might as well just kill the both of you," Toguro charged his muscles up to eighty percent muscle mass and stormed at his opponents. 'I'm going to kill the blond haired boy and unlock Yusuke's potential. I want a real fight.'

In a horribly fast split second, Toguro charged his right hand with spirit energy and uppercut Naruto in the chest, right where his seal had been placed twelve years ago. Abruptly, everything went black as Naruto fell to the ground. No sounds penetrated his mind as he lay vertically in the sewer water inside of Kyuubi's humble layer.

"I've done it now Kyuubi, eh? I can't fight this at all. I'm down for the count," Naruto chuckled, eyes closed while lying down.

**"K-Kit, is t-that you. I'm l-losing my handle on my chakra. Toguro slightly inactivated part of the seal. It w-will change back to normal, bu-" **Kyuubi was cut off as Naruto was consumed in a fiery orange and red chakra, instantly waking up.

As he stood, Naruto examined the fact that he had gone back to his spirit form, Yusuke had boosted in power greatly, and Toguro had increased in size even more. The fusion of Kyuubi's spirit powers and Naruto approached Yusuke to formulate a new strategy.

Up in the stands, Itachi, sharingan activated, kept Sasuke and Gaara shielded from the demon energy radiating off of Toguro. He, Gaara, and especially Sasuke were amazed at Naruto and his powers.

"Oh, it seems the blond haired kid woke up. I guess I'll kill you as well as Yusuke," Toguro chuckled while continuing to let his caliginous energy run rampant around the stadium, disintegrating weak demons abroad.

"Yusuke, I can get a hold on Toguro. If I do that, then you can kill Toguro. Just follow my lead," Naruto disappeared and reappeared behind Toguro. "Hey big man, get ready to have your ass handed to you."

Yusuke watched as Naruto used huge amounts of energy to hold Toguro In place. He charged a huge spirit wave in his hands and ran as fast as he could push himself, hurling his hand forward tearing through Toguro's stomach as Naruto leaped away. The strength of the blast was enough to engulf half of the stadium in a magnificent light. As the rays cleared, it could be seen that Toguro had been blown to smithereens, his incarcerated body lying on the ground. Standing by the corpse were Yusuke, Naruto, and Sakyo, who had stolen one of Naruto's kunai.

"It was a fair bet. Team Urameshi, you've all won and I congratulate you, though I have one last surprise," Sakyo finished by pushing a button hidden inside his coat and stabbing himself through the heart with Naruto's kunai, killing himself.

"He's hit a button connected to the stadium. This whole place is going to blow up," Kurama examined, telling everyone and leading to a hurried evacuation.

Hurriedly, as many living creatures as possible evacuated the explosive stadium. By the time Yusuke, Naruto and company reached the docks, the stadium exploded, torching the land around it.

"This island has an underground passage full of explosives. We've got three hours, most likely," Itachi spoke, telling of what he saw on a much earlier investigation.

Everyone entered the docked boat that seemed to be conveniently waiting for them. The captain pulled out and everyone scattered to talk.

--

Three Days Later

--

For the first time in a while, in Naruto's opinion, Team 0 walked through the gates to Konaha.

"Uh, finally," Naruto said. "Now I get a chance to lay down for a bit. Yep, life is good."

Little did Naruto know, the Head Medic had just been murdered, the recently recovered potion stolen.

--

**End of Chapter 30 **

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